Kids, they don’t like you. Check out their holy books. The warrior gods -- Jehovah, Allah, Yahweh and Vishnu – are the W.C. Fields* of religion:
“… certainly [in the Bible] one should find empathy toward children’s needs, for isn’t Jesus always pictured holding little children? Yet when one actually reads each of the over 2000 references to children listed in the Complete Concordance to the Bible, these gentle images are missing. You find lots on child sacrifice, on stoning children, on beating them, on their strict obedience, on their love for their parents, and on their role as carriers of the family name, but not a single one that reveals empathy for their needs.” James DeMause, 1974, The History of Childhood)Remember: we’re looking at war religions here, built for whipping kids into warmonger and war-lover shape.
Christian kids get stuck with mind-ripping role models: Jehovah shouts “kill and make war!” while Jesus whispers “be sweet and help the poor….” No wonder Christians make up most of our criminal class – they’re schizoid before they’re outa diapers.
Children need role models who live life in toto -- eros AND agape, joie de vivre AND sorrow. Role models who love the way only mothers can: unconditionally. As women give birth, the Mother Goddess gave birth to us all, and She adores everyone, no strings attached. Always, forever, and no matter what. [And believe me, men “under” the Goddess are just as manly as under a god.]
The idea of gods giving birth throws me into a gaggle of giggles (Athena springing from the head of Zeus, Yahweh building Adam from Eve’s rib, etc.). Around the time Yahweh was contrived, a hundred other gods were slapped together. Every single one of ‘em could give birth (See Walker, The Women’s Encyclopedia). Why? Hadda compete with the Goddess -- the only deity anyone gave a fig about.
After enough torture people “bought” these new gods. No matter that they didn’t believe in them – all they had to do was brainwash their kids to believe (Voila! More warriors!). You either died from torture and let the torturers brainwash your kids, or you promised to brainwash them yourself.
Atheists: a picture’s worth 1000 words. Are you certain you want children reared with no role models? If all the world were atheist, are you sure you’d wanna live in it?
The world’s ready to burst into flames because junk war gods murdered the Goddess about 6000 years ago. These dudes are ancient dweebs, and we need to trade them back to the Deck for the Goddess card. If you love your children and the planet, give this some serious thought.
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*” Children should neither be seen nor heard from -- ever again.” W.C. Fields. Thnx to ppreacher and surfkid74 for the fotos
Whack! You hit the nail on the head with this one, sister.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a dime for each of the times my kids were insulted, belittled, yelled at, and humiliated at my former "mainstream" Christian church, I'd be able to buy a car. I'm totally ashamed that I put up with it so long.
Once my daughter asked a question on Easter Sunday during the "kid's time," and the pastor so patronized her that the entire congregation (this is Easter, remember) laughed out loud at her.
Her question? "Why do they call it Good Friday if Jesus had to suffer like that?"
His answer (after rolling his eyes): "Go ask your Sunday School teacher."
Once I had to come and pick up my other daughter from Bible School because one of the "helpers" yelled at her and made her cry in front of all the other kids her age. Her crime? Talking during a prayer.
Our whole family has now left the Christian church. No more fundraisers, no more corporate mentality, no more yelling at kids and their moms, no more nasty letters home about being on time to obligations, no more shameless brainwashing techniques to scare teenagers into towing the line.
That ship has sailed. We're going to cruise on something else and see if it's more user-friendly.
Hey, Athana, here's a site you'll want to link, since you're good at it:
http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com
"Tennessee Guerilla Women." Your kinda people. You too, Morgaine.
Aren't these perfect examples of the Christian/kid relationship, Anne. Sorry your kids had to go through them, though. At least you're getting free of the chains. Your stories remind me of the times I got in trouble at church. The worst was when I was [get this] literally trying to sweep dirt under a rug in the church basement, and all of a sudden at the edge of the rug I saw the minister's shiny patent leathter shoes just silently standing there....
ReplyDeleteI never had bad experiences the few times I attended church, but they were never able to answer questions when we'd read the bible. I don't have any respect for that. I also grew up listening to a preacher named Garner Ted Armstrong who used to point out all the Paganism and mistranslations in the bible. The Paganism made a lot more sense to me.
ReplyDeleteOops - Anne, I meant to tell you, I've been reading the TN Guerrilla Women for a while. They're kind enough to quote me now and again, which is always a thrill.
ReplyDelete