Saturday, February 8, 2014

Religion of a ''New born''

What should be the religion of a new born? Is religion inherited? A new born baby is forced to follow the religion inherited by the kid’s parents. Why there is no freedom of choice? A new born can definitely not have the intellect to choose among different religions. Richard Dawkings says that we shouldn't refer to children as 'muslim, christian, jewish' and so on. We should say, 'children of muslim/ chirstian/jewish parents'. His argument is that children are too young to have decided if they are religious or not. But when the kid grows up and if, still adheres to the ideology of God, even then they don’t have freedom in choice. For example in the movie, ‘’ Life of Pi’’ the kid follows many religions. He has the freedom to choose and is well supported by his parents. Atleast he takes time to experience the different religions. I don’t think we still have that freedom in our societies. Any family who supports such kinds of activities is hated and is seen as a black sheep, because religion is still very sentimental to people.

I feel that, a parent should guide the toddler with ideas on life in the simplest way, basic etiquettes, good habits, give them information from all religions etc. And our job is to pass on the right information to them which is only possible when we ourselves read different religious texts. How many of us have taken the initiative to read other religious texts? We surely should not dump the misinterpreted versions to them.  Then the kid comes up with umpteen questions which is good for the development of both the child and parent. The kid will have some basic knowledge to start his quest, which would be filtered or corrected with his interest later in future. Most kids in our present world are not even presented with the ideas of religion but they are accustomed with the rituals. I still feel religion should be by choice. When the crux of all religions was to spread harmony, peace and brotherhood, then why not pick any? 


  1. Yes, very well said. Religion has to be accepted, not imposed.

  2. Good morals and religious tolerance are, unfortunately, left behind in writings and stories. The British successfully divided India on this front....and we are still suffering. No offence to any country now, but it still saddens me to see a hundred year old mindset taking innocent lives and causing unnecessary riots....

  3. yeah !! ppl shd nt b divided under religion !