Religion and Child Abuse
(This topic was locked in GD because it contained religious content, original related OP, posted by kpete, is here http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2734220
I was very distressed at seeing this topic censored in GD, because I believe child abuse in every form is a very serious problem, and that many methods that are used to indoctrinate children into religion are blatant acts of cruelty. I was born LGBT, and was aware of my orientation at a very early age. I was also a very curious child, and not prone to unquestionably believing everything adults told me. I was sent to a Catholic School when I was 4 years old, and was immediately subjected to intense brainwashing efforts by nuns and priests, reinforced by repeated sporadic physical abuse, for the purpose of indoctrinating me into the realm of existence commanded me by Catholic dogma.
Because I refused to act in a manner that nuns apparently believed was "gender appropriate", nuns repeatedly tried to humiliate me in classrooms. Because I refused to believe the dogma that they were trying to instill in me, I was yelled at and beaten in classrooms in front of my classmates. Because I did not always behave in a manner that nuns believed was appropriate, I was yelled at and beaten in classrooms in front of my classmates. One time, when I was in the second grade, a nun got really angry at me and hung me up on a coat hook in a dark coat closet, closed the curtain, and left me hanging there for a few minutes. All throughout my experience with the Catholic institution, I was subjected to all types of physical and emotional abuse. When I was in first grade, when one of the boys was crying in the recess yard, a nun got furious and called him a little baby. In the recess yard, there was a baby carriage with a baby bonnet and a baby bottle in the carriage. The presiding nun cruelly mocked the the boy, called him a little baby, put the baby bonnet on him, forced him to get into the baby carriage, and made him hold the baby bottle, as the rest of the class stood obediently in line, laughing, while the poor little boy sat in the carriage cried as the nun continued to mock him. I imagine this incident scarred this boy for life, because it scarred me as a bystander.
These are just a few shining examples of my experience of the forcible indoctrination of religious dogma through child abuse. There are many more. Sexual abuse of children by religious figures gets a whole lot of press, but the other dirty little secret is the physical, emotional, and psychological abuse that many children have been and are forced to endure while they being threatened with eternal damnation in a fiery hell if they did not believe what the Church wanted them to, which is a form of child abuse in itself.
These repeated attempts to brainwash me, by physically, emotionally, and psychologically abusing me, and their other brainwashing methods as well, were entirely unsuccessful; I seem to somehow have managed to become a healthy, happy, freethinking human being despite all their efforts to make me otherwise.
Of course, it's not just Catholics that engage in child abuse by religious indoctrination, this type of child abuse is widespread throughout many religions. Some religious people even cut little girl's clitorises off so that they can't use them for experiencing sexual pleasure later in life. Go figure.
Certainly, not everyone who belongs to a religion, or has spiritual beliefs, has been subjected to child abuse through religious indoctrination, and this is not what is being expressed in this post. I recognize that there are some folks who genuinely arrived at a place of spiritual belief who did not have religion shoved down their throats from the time they were in the cradle.
I know that discussing child abuse committed in the name of religion is somewhat of a taboo and forbidden subject here at DU, mostly because some religious folks freak out and alert and bombard forum hosts with anguished protests when their dearly held beliefs are questioned. Maybe I'll even get banned for speaking out on this subject, but fuck it, if I get banned for speaking out against a form of child abuse, then there is something very seriously wrong at DU.
In my opinion, as someone who has been a victim of prolonged abuse because cruel people desperately wanted to force me to believe something that my reason would not permit me to accept as truth, it's way past time to openly and frankly discuss this problem of forced religious indoctrination as, and through, child abuse, no matter how much some may want sweep this issue under the rug in order to hide it away.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/22/atheist-richard-dawkins-indoctrination-of-religion-is-child-abuse/
Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins on Sunday told a British literary festival that parents who forced their children to believe that religion was a fact were guilty of “child abuse.”
Speaking about his family-friendly book The Magic of Reality at the Chipping Norton Literary Festival, the University of Oxford professor warned against the “indoctrination of children,” according to The Daily Mail.
“What a child should never be taught is that you are a Catholic or Muslim child, therefore that is what you believe. That’s child abuse.”
The author of The God Delusion recommended that children be taught religion in the same way that they are taught literature.
Religion and Child Abuse
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/religion-and-abuse-judge-_b_1077778.htmlReligion and Child Abuse]
The convergence of two news stories should be a wakeup call to alert us to the fact that there is a brutal movement in America that legitimizes child abuse in the name of God. One story involves a judge whipping his daughter with a belt on a YouTube clip that has gone viral. The other involves books by Evangelical leaders on child rearing that advocate spanking, even beating.
But what many people don't seem to realize is that in the Evangelical alternative universe of the home school movement, tightly knit church communities and the cult following of a number of bigtime leaders and authors, physical punishment of children has been glorified for years.
Religiously based psychological abuse of children is a growing area of interest in the psychological and sociological community. It can take the form of using teachings to subjugate children through fear, or imposing heavy indoctrination such that the child is taught only the beliefs and/or points of view of their particular sect (or even just that of their caregivers) and all other perspectives are stifled or kept from them. The beliefs are taught as absolute truth, with no way of ever questioning them. Psychologist Jill Mytton describes this as crushing the child's chance to form a personal morality and belief system, making them utterly reliant on their religious system and/or parents. They never learn to critically reflect on information they receive. Similarly, the use of fear and a judgmental environment (such as the concept of Hell) to control the child can be traumatic.[4]
Physical abuse
Faith-based violence against children within a religious sect has become an area of growing interest and concern. Abuse of this type often takes the form of beatings, illegal confinement/neglect, near drowning or even murder under the belief that the child is possessed by Satan or evil spirits, allegedly practicing evil sorcery or witchcraft, or has committed some kind of sin that warrants such punishment. In 2012, the United Kingdom's Department for Children, Schools and Families instituted a new action plan to investigate and address the issue of faith-based abuse after several high profile murders occurred, such as the Kristy Bamu case. Over a term of 10 years, Scotland Yard had conducted 83 abuse investigations that had faith-based elements, and feared there were even more that go unreported.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_abuse#Against_children
Mass child abuse though institutional racist religious indoctrination:
[link:http://www.twofrog.com/rezsch.html|The Reservation Boarding School System
in the United States, 1870 -1928]
"In 1870, Congress authorized an annual appropriation of $100,000 "for the support of industrial and other schools among tribes otherwise not provided for,..." The facilities involved were run by various churches and missionary societies which, in 1869, had been provided with overall authority to act in behalf of the government, appointing all Indian agents and hiring all personnel employed on the reservations. Attendance at these mission schools was made mandatory by regulation on many reservations for all native children aged six through sixteen." (Jaimes p.380)
Speaking any language other than English was strictly prohibited, as was any attempt to adhere to any Native spiritual practice. The force that lay behind these prohibitions, is readily seen upon reading this statement from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs E.A. Hayt...
snip---
Separation of church and state seemingly did not apply when it came to Christianizing Indians. In the 1890's the US government in the name of the Indian Office stipulated that students in government schools were to be encouraged to attend churches and Sunday schools. The reformers, the government and society in general, knew Christianity was essential for the development of the "good" Indian. It mattered little at the time that the governmental mind and the Christian mind were in fact one. Church and state shamelessly walked hand in hand.
"Christian proselytizing suffused the educational effort during these decades. Missionaries, of course, attempted to indoctrinate denominational creeds into young Indians. But even as the government edged the mission societies to the margin, its teachers also sought to imbue pupils with some form of Christianity. For most secular as well as missionary educators, "civilization" was inconceivable unless grounded in Christian - especially Protestant - values." (Coleman, p.115)
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
You re-arrange me 'till I'm sane
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me.
And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon
~ Roger Waters
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