Quote Originally Posted by Gofer Blue View Post
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Yes, Christianity, if you consider Christianity to be a religion (which I don't), i.e. not a relationship with a person, just a follower of an ideology or philosophy. My two sons grew up in a Christian home and were free to choose their own path. They had ample opportunity to turn away (away at university, leaving home to get married etc.) but they have not. We never coerced them - what teenagers would accept that! There is an expression "to love people into the kingdom" - do you seriously think that anyone today could be bullied into becoming a Christian?
It is pretty obvious that a religious upbringing affects the belief systems of children in quite a fundamental manner. If people were allowed to be religion-free until adulthood the results would be different as to how they perceive the world and the eventual religious or non-religious path that they would follow. Creating a belief system in a child is a very strong influence and a considerable traction, something that has been recognised by purveyors of religious and political dogmas throughout time.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathl...b_5664805.html

"In our first study, we found that children’s judgments about characters in biblical narratives were strongly affected by their upbringing. Children who had had some form of religious education - via church, parochial school or both — generally judged the central character to be a real person. Children who did not have religious education — who did not go to church and went to a secular school — largely judged the central character to be fictional.

In a follow-up study, we obtained a similar pattern for what we might call quasi-biblical stories — stories that included miraculous events but not ones that children would read about in the Bible. For example, we told children a story about the parting of the mountains. Religious children were more likely than non-religious children to think that the main character was real."