First point: The question assumes 'religion' is one distinct, easily definable principle , which is false, religions have many many different principles within them which are taught in many many different manners


Second point: The federal government defines child abuse as
Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation"; or


"An act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm."



I was brought up with religion. It did not kill me, physically harm me, emotionally harm me, sexually abuse me, or exploit me or put me at SERIOUS Risk of harm. So I guess there can probably not be an honest YES or NO answer to whether it is child abuse, because I know of MANY MANY other people like me for which religion has done none of these things.


so I come to the third point

RELIGION is not child abuse, although people can be ABUSIVE in how they choose to teach it to children. In many of the scenarios listed here, the issue is the ABUSIVE manner in which the child is supposedly introduced or 'indoctrinated' into the religion, it is not the religion itself.


For instance, as a child, I was at a certain developmental stage. Parents often give children stories to develop their imaginations and their sense of lifes possibilities,, at this stage. Some parents may be upset if their child does not adhere and they may disown them ,,like the parent who threatens to not give a christmas gift because a kid says santa isnt real, or a parent who 'disowns' a child for merely 'disbelieving' in some tradition when they get older (disbelief and disrespect are different things though...)

,and that would be abusive. OTher parents (mine, for instance) provide the resource and the information and let the children get from it what they can, which is NOT Abusive at all.

My siblings and myself ALL grew up with religion. OF the five of us, only two of us grew into adulthood with a strong belief in God or the Bible. The other three would probably be considered agnostic.

My parents exposed us to as many DIFFERENT cultures/philosophies as possible when we were children so we could use the brain they gave us to use them towards our own emotional and intellectual benefit.

,,short answer,,

Is teaching religion to children abusive? .....NO

Do abusive parents teach religion to their children with abusive methods?,,,SURE

Some things are in our genes and do not need to be learnt, other things we pick up throughout life.

Children are instinctively gullible for a reason, it is in our human nature to trust our parents for reasons of survival. 'Dont swim with the crocodiles' for example, is good survival advice, and if we didnt listen to our parents advice we would not be as strong a species as we are.

This is why it is wrong to bring kids up with religion, because they will believe whatever you tell them even if it is wrong. If Christianity happened to be correct, then all those poor islamic and jewish kids are being led to a life full of wasted time, money and beliefs.

so who has the expertise or authority to determine that reigious beliefs are 'wrong'?


children are to be guided in the right direction, and that is each parents perogative to decide what that direction is,,,,,


sometimes not only children are gullible, sometimes children grow into adults who have been brainwashed to think if it makes you 'unhappy' or doesnt let you do WHATVER happens to make you happy,,,,its wrong

There are all kinds of mental and emotional abuse of which religion is only one.

A good sign of someone that has been abused and/or brainwashed is some one who continues to believe what they have been taught, even when clear and astonishing evidence has been put before them to prove the contrary, but they are still unable to change their view. This is also a good sign of someone who is likely to be an abuser themselves.

abuse is not about belief

abuse is : improper or excessive use or treatment

there is a list too long to mention of things that can be improperly used or excessively used

people use EXCESSIVE focus on sports abusively to villify their children, they use EXCESSIVE focus on academics to villify their children, they use EXCESSIVE focus on appearance and beauty to villify their children

but , as I said before, the abuse starts with the PERSON, not with their tool of choice,,,

When the tool of choice has been passed down to them through generation after generation, century after century, then that tool of choice has to take some blame eventually.