Religious Child Abuse = Parents' Religious Freedom?

Proponents of the Orthodox Jewish practice of orally sucking the blood from the infant's penis after circumcision claim that efforts by authorities to stop this disgusting practice infringes on their religious freedom. Seems like these mohel and the parents of these babies may be infringing on the babies' religious freedom!

Babies' herpes linked to circumcision practices

Even if the practice had never been linked to infants contracting herpes, some of whom have died and others left brain damaged, it is a disgusting, abusive practice that should have been done away with long ago. It also brings up the question of whether parents have a right to indoctrinate their children into their religion in the first place. If we teach children to believe a certain way without giving them a chance to make their own choice, are we not guilty of mental and emotional abuse? And in the case of ritual circumcision, is that not physical abuse?

Do children not have a right to religious freedom?

 



I wonder how long religion would survive if children were allowed to reach an appropriate age before being taught about their parents' gods? I'd give it one generation.

Spiritual Warfare For Dummies

According to a Pentecostal acquaintance/co-worker, humans are susceptible to all types of demonic spiritual influence. If you're angry, you're being influenced by a spirit of anger. If you're jealous, that's the spirit of jealousy, etc. Basically any perceived negative human emotion or reaction or experience is a spirit of something. I remember quite a lot of preaching on all these spirits when I was still attending church. I didn't buy it then either. But I think I was probably under the influence of the spirit of skepticism even back then. Considering my upbringing, I'm surprised that "spirit" survived since one of the goals of my childhood indoctrination into Christianity was to utterly destroy any skepticism I might have possessed.

I was fortunate my skepticism survived, but this particular acquaintance and many, many others were not so fortunate. Being attacked by demonic spirits is just one freaky belief out of countless others. I once saw a book this above-mentioned acqaintance brought to work to share with another co-worker. "The Blood of Jesus" by Elaine Davenport. I saw it on a desk and I couldn't resist a peek. The back cover summary of the book made me laugh and want to vomit at the same time. It also gave me some insight into the psyches of a couple of my co-workers. The book summary stated how to plead the blood of Jesus, how to create a blood line around your property to protect your family and home from Satan, etc. Later, out of curiosity I looked up the author's website. Most Pentecostal insanity doesn't usually shock me, but in this case I did mutter a "you're fucking kidding me" under my breath when I read the author's blog posts and the comments section.

On the subject of protecting your family, she mentioned that you could either buy a handgun to protect your family and property OR
"...you can “in faith” draw a blood line around your home, boldly declaring to Satan that he has no legal right to touch you, your family, or your possessions..."

There are SO many books and lectures and sermons covering the subject of spiritual warfare and how to be a prayer warrior, how to rid yourself of the spirit of (insert negative human emotion or experience here) and how to fight Satan and Pentecostals just eat it up. (I know because I WAS one) They revel in any perceived demonic attack because to them it means whatever they're doing is making the devil really mad! And if the devil is mad, they're doing a good job for Jesus! They would be worried if the devil WASN'T attacking them. And they do love to brag about it. They love to exchange their spiritual war stories. I've heard literally hundreds of them. The stories all consist of common events - unfortunate things that happen to everyone from losing their car keys when they were getting ready to leave for church, to having a bad dream, to suffering because of a bad economy, to losing a loved one or being diagnosed with a serious illness. I know folks who consider every event in their lives as having a supernatural cause. The owner of the above mentioned book IS one of those. The author of the above book certainly seems to be as well.

Most don't live at that extreme, but I've run across quite a few. They aren't your everyday Christians, but considering how popular books on the subject of Christian spiritual warfare are, I think it's safe to say there are a lot of deluded folks out there.

It's one thing to believe in a god, but believing yourself, or your family, or your church, or your entire country is under attack by Satan? Sounds a lot like paranoid delusion to me. If I'm not mistaken, paranoid delusion is a mental disorder. Whether it is taught, or innate, it is still a mental disorder. These pastors and apologists and authors are not only catering to it, they're perpetuating it!

So if you consider yourself a spiritual warrior or under attack by the devil, get a good therapist and some medication. And stop buying those stupid books!!

Rowan County, North Carolina Defense of Religion Act of 2013

We know by now the Rowan County Defence of Religion Act of 2013 was created in reaction to the ACLU's lawsuit against Rowan County concerning sectarian prayer during council meetings and speculatively political posturing by Reps Carl Ford and Harry Warren to appease their fundamentalist constituents. I don't discount the possiblity that it was actually an attempt to open the door to ultimately creating a state religion in North Carolina. I don't put that past some of our state's representatives and voters, but whatever the truth is concerning the reason behind submitting this resolution, it does further the conversation on Seperation of Church and State.

I only wish people who think that freedom of religion means they should be able to advance their religion even in a taxpayer funded situation like council meetings, public schools, etc., and that legislating their religious views is their constitutional right, would realize that other people exist who don't hold the same religious views. Their freedom of religion is the only one that matters. If they actually DID respect the views of others, they would easily understand why people have fought so hard to keep church and state seperate. They could empathize with the discrimination that minority religions and non-believers have been subjected to. They would understand how it feels to be forced to live in a way that goes against what we believe and who we are.

It would be easy enough for any of them to understand this if they put themselves into the very scenario they would like to create. That scenario...with a slight twist. What religion would they like to see become the official religion of the United States, by which all laws would then be created? Christianity! they would answer.

But really? As if Christianity is a generic term? Even if we break it down into Catholics and Protestants, which one should be the official religion? Can we even imagine the war between those two? It might play out a bit differently than it did in the middle ages, but it still wouldn't be pretty. Could a Protestant imagine how he or she would feel if they were forced to practice Catholicism? Or simply forced to hear Catholic prayers at the beginning of their council meetings or led by a teacher at the beginning of their school day then required to genuflect? Or if laws were based on the Catholic interpretation of scripture and all the extra dogmatic crap they have invented? What if birth control became illegal and you were forced to give a percentage of your income to the Roman Catholic Church? What if you were forced by law to baptize your children into Catholicism? What if you were required to pledge allegiance to the Pope? And if your beliefs would not allow you to do any of this and maintain your integrity, not to mention your freedom, or if you were discriminated against when trying to find employment, or were evicted from your home because you believed differently, or were abused verbally or physically and shunned by your community because you didn't conform? Or were demonized by the ruling religion simply for your different beliefs?

Can you put yourself in that scenario and really understand how you would feel? If not, please read the above paragraph again carefully. If so,can you finally understand why government must remain neutral and secular? It IS as much for your freedom as for everyone else's. But it is as much for everyone else as it is for you.

No one is taking away your rights if prayer or worship or bible study is not allowed in taxpayer sponsored situations, or if laws are created through the influence of your religion. But you are taking away others' rights if you force your own religion into these situations. That is when it becomes only about YOU. Neutrality and secularity makes it about ALL OF US.