I believe in individual freedom, not giving some people the freedom to deny freedom to other people. That includes limiting the rights people have over their children's bodies and beliefs.
-
-
Even if we can show that a very high incidence of children accept the same religion, political party and football team as their parents and are glad of the modification as adults, the fact is that there are always some who don't and aren't & they should have individual freedom.
Show this thread -
I am actually a bit too liberal and individualist for my daughter who is a child who likes routines, rules & boundaries, but I do want her to be the one to make her own decisions as far as possible. So she's been Christian & Hindu & considered Judaism. Now non-religious.
Show this thread -
Also, if she wants to shave all her hair off, she can live with how long it will take for that to grow out & if she wants to pierce her ears, she can decide whether the pain is worth it & protect from infection. (She doesn't want to do either of those)
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
What if the children consent to it? Then you would be denying the individual right of the child to participate in the religion of their parents by denying them to modify their bodies.
-
Then we have to have conversations about the ages at which kids can make these decisions for themselves taking into account how serious the modification is & whether the child is under pressure from parents who have power over them.
-
We might say "No' to a 16 year old wanting a mastectomy, for example, but decide a 14 year old saying he wants a circumcision because he is Jewish can make that decision. Ear piercing is almost reversible so perhaps a ten year old could take responsibility for that decision.
-
There is always a certain arbitrary nature to the ages at which we decide kids can make their own decisions about sex, drinking, voting, tattoos etc and we will always disagree. The principle is tho that they should be the ones to make them.
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
I don't know if you've ever talked about this before, but what's your take on religious schools? Should they be banned? I think they should.
-
I don't think they should be state funded and however they are funded, they should be required to uphold a child's right to a full education.
-
But why should they exist at all, then? Don't you think by enrolling your kids in a religious school you reinforce segregation and also sort of 'push' your beliefs on your child?
-
I don't think they should exist. I don't think we can ban them from existing provided they don't deny the child any of their rights.
-
Ah you just don't think it's feasible. Is that because it's a constitutional thing? We have that over here too. I still think we should change it.
-
No, an ethical thing. We can't ban things we don't like unless they impact on somebody else's rights.
-
My reasoning is personally that it impedes on the right to self-determination of children by giving them a Christian or Muslim or Hindu-bias of the world through education. A lot of kids come out of these schools - unsurprisingly - religious. I don't think that was their choice
- 2 more replies
New conversation -
-
-
Reminder that Christianity is the only one of the Abrahamaic faiths without a circumcision requirement.pic.twitter.com/kfuG8v0d89
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.