[chickenonsteroids]

I think it's unnecessary.

This is because you're telling a child that x is true and they don't even question it because they think you're right just because you are their parents. How could your parents be wrong? Evidently they can ... and can be wrong a lot of the time. But that isn't noticed by a child of such a young age. And that is understandable.

But, the problem I have with raising a child into a religion is that they become too scared to leave the religion if they think it's false. If a child thinks that they want to follow another religion or they don't want to follow a religion at all then they'd be too scared to say. Clearly, some will say 'i won't force my child to believe' or 'I won't be disappointed' but for the most part that's complete bullshit. Even if they don't notice it. It's easy to make a child feel guilty for thinking for themselves without actively doing it themselves.

Also, the problem with raising them into a religion is the simple idea that you talk to them about hell (for the three main religions) and that will scare the living daylights out of a person that has doubts. They tend to start thinking to themselves 'what if I'm wrong?' and stop questioning their beliefs just because they're scared of a concept that hasn't been proven.

So yea, I'm now against raising children into a religion as I think it does more harm than good for the freedom of thought for the individual and I'd rather they come to a religion out of their own efforts. If they end up thinking Christianity or anything of the sort is true then they would have done it out of their own will. There's no such thing as a 'muslim child' or a 'christian child' most just had that religion forced down their throat and they only see that as the truth and they aren't exposed to critical thinking enough.

Obviously it is difficult to raise a child without imposing any form of beliefs on them but don't threaten them with hell (to me saying you could go to hell is a threat, not a kind warning) , don't make them feel guilty for disagreeing with you just let them be independent. To me, that's the best thing you can do for your child.