Religion can have a very positive impact on family values, but it can just as easily have a negative impact. The truth is that every religion has its strengths and weaknesses, regardless of which one you encounter. Religion can teach discipline, honor, a sense of pride, right and wrong, and introduce children to a strong and honoring commitment like no other.
The Role of Extremism and Tolerance in Religion
Extremism has been proven to lead to behaviors of hate and intolerance. Throughout history, every religion has had extremists who perpetrated acts of intolerance and hate. This, of course, is not the true purpose of religion. Religion is meant to act as a guide for behavior, extending honor and care to the human race and grounding us in a sense of chronic and undeniable love. When religion is used as a weapon of hate, there can be no good in that.
When religion teaches families to reach out to suffering individuals and accept people without judgment, this can be a wonderful thing. However, religious values only remain meaningful when they are based on respect. Without respect, all we are teaching children is that we perform these kind acts to please God and prove to others that their beliefs are wrong.
There are numerous instances where help and relief are offered to people in need, but only on the condition of conversion. What message does this send to our children? Does it teach them to help only those who belong or wish to belong to the same belief system? Religious outreach that helps simply to help is the true essence of religion. This approach sends the message to children that helping others in need is the right thing to do in the eyes of both God and humanity.
Insensitivity to other religions fosters intolerance. Every denomination believes its religious views are accurate. Teaching our children, regardless of religious affiliation, that those who believe differently are wrong, only teaches them intolerance.
The Institute for Religious Tolerance conducted an experiment a few years ago with interesting results. They placed a Jewish child, a Christian child, a Muslim child, and a Buddhist child in the same room to observe how they interacted. They were likely to ask each other questions about their differences with genuine curiosity and understanding. However, when their parents were placed in the same room, a religious argument broke out within three minutes. Ten years later, those same children—now between the ages of sixteen and eighteen—were reintroduced and encouraged to ask each other about their religious beliefs. Within five minutes, they were arguing heatedly about their religions. Somewhere in those ten years, they had learned religious intolerance. This experiment was conducted with children from nearly every religious sect, including Wiccans, Hindus, Muslims, and Druids. While there were a few others, these were the central groups in the study. As children, they were able to hold reasonable, honest, and caring discussions about religious orientations. As near adults, however, they had lost all respect for each other’s differing beliefs.
If we say that religion is the inspiration behind family values and that religious families have stronger family values than non-religious families, we are, in effect, claiming that atheists and non-practicing religious families have lower standards of family values. Atheists and non-practicing families are fully capable of teaching their children strong family values. They can teach their children the difference between right and wrong, the importance of helping others, how to treat animals, and respect for their parents. Their explanations may differ, but the core values remain the same.
Religion can teach children wonderful things, and there is no denying that it can foster strong family values. The way we view religion and religious tolerance shapes the views our children have and how they will interact with the world religiously. It is a parent’s job to introduce their children to the value of diversity and to avoid undermining other religious views while teaching them the splendor of their own.
4 Responses
who wrote this and when was it published?
I really need this for my college assignment. Can you please tell me who wrote this and when it was published??
An illuminating essay that I can identify with. But when were the studies done and have they been duplicated by others recently with the same or similar results? In recent times when the culture in the U.,S. has changed over the last few decades since WWII, studies suggest that there has been a decline in religion, especially with strong arguments for separation of church and state. Thus the question: how have family values changed?
When was this published and who wrote it