Heard today on PBS how many young career women are opting not to have children, and how many of their parents are really upset (particularly the mothers) at them. Presumably these were the same ones who kept saying, “when are you getting married then, after all you’re 31?” Then there are those parents who just can’t wait to be grandparents, and pressuring their kids. To them, I say, “get a life!” I’m sure they’ll have them when they’re ready, and if they decide not to, it’s their choice. I have several good friends who never had kids, for one reason or another. Each to his or her own—thank goodness. Pushing your kids to have kids is almost as bad as bringing them up in your religion, or your political persuasion. One major reason we can’t seem to shrug off the shackles of ideology and dogma. Try and be objective, and provide them with a variety of options and arguments for all sides. Then give them a little credit for some intelligence and allow them to make up their own minds. To do otherwise is the worst child abuse, plain and simple! Many years ago at school, our religious knowledge teacher gave us a book called, “The Faiths Men Live By” by Charles Francis Potter. We had to read a chapter every week, then discuss the particular religion. He covers 52 religions from Hinduism (with sub-sets of Jainism & Sikhism) to Zoroastrianism, and Taoism, Shinto, Confucianism, and Islam, in addition to Judaism, Mormonism, Christianity, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc. Seeing so many different religions should give one great cause for concern, especially those that try to inflict their views on others, often in quite obnoxious and violent ways, such as Muslims, Hasidic Jews, Catholics, and Mormons; or the lunatic fringe, such as Church of Scientology. At least growing up in England under the simple Church of England (as against High Church with its swinging of incense) was a pretty benign religion (not so much so back in the 16th cent), where there were no stupid rituals, and no one insisted you wear silly hats on your head, or bow at particular times and cross yourself, and you weren’t told you’d go to hell if you did or didn’t do this or that. Fortunately, much of the civilized world has become more educated and moved towards a more secular society. This doesn’t mean they don’t have morals and ideals and beliefs. They just keep their views and beliefs to themselves, and have more time to devote to actually helping others. Not that church groups don’t help others, but I’d rather see a cadre of Médecins Sans Frontières volunteers in some African country than most religious groups, and I speak as someone whose paternal grandfather was a missionary in Burma.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 04:55:46 +0000
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