I have been in and out of religion for as long as I can remember. The first time I ever stepped into a real church was when I was about 9. The only time I ever saw a church was when we were driving past it or on television. The pastor looked like he was the size of a giant and the church pews were the only things that kept him from coming down to where we were. Hearing the gospels for the first time was weird to me. I grew up watching and listening to whatever my grandfather wanted to and him since he was hippie we watched a lot of Alien Hunters. So for a long time I had thought that god was an alien and we were just his little ants in an ant farm. To hear that god was in fact this heavenly entity made me wiggle in displeasure, because he had to be an alien right?
Well fast forward a few years and I can still say that religion still kind of freaks me out. I think it it stems from growing up in a religion free home. I was never forced to go to any kind of church and when I did it was with my friends to go to Wednesday worship. Once there we would watch the Veggie Tales and learn all about the passages of the bible. Now being twenty-one I still have no preference when it comes to religion. You might think it strange but actually a lot of homes now are structured like that. In this day in age many children will grow up in secular homes.
Now just because I was born in a non religious household does not mean that I am against religion. That is one of the myths that I would love to debunk when it comes to this kind of topic. Not everyone that was born in a secular home hates people that were brought up in it. I love getting to know about all types of religion. I think being brought up in that kind of environment helped me to not be bias. I have friends that are Hindus and even my best friend is a very strong Christian young woman. My mother married a Muslim man and my siblings were raised in that culture. However, my mom never stopped my brother when he decided to stop practicing or when my sister decided she would rather be buddhist.
I think it is important especially in this day and age to teach children to be religiously free. That they do not have to conform or feel pressured to be something they do not wish to be. I do not mean to say that parents cannot teach their children about their gods or culture. No, what I am arguing is that yes teach them about religion but do not force it upon them. They should have a choice in what they wish to become devoted to. If my children decide to become Buddhist or Christian it would be because it was their choice.
