I saw this graphic on Bluesky the other day.
What a great thing. I’ve known parents whose children have come home from Christian school crying because they were so afraid of hell. It is psychological abuse.
Trying to do the basic fact checking before posting, I found an interesting article on The Straits Times titled, “Forced participation in religious activities to be classified as child abuse in Japan.” How forward thinking and fantastic is that? Very! It seems even more encompassing than what was stated in the graphic I saw.
New health ministry guidelines in Japan will classify as abuse any acts by members of religious groups who threaten or force their children to participate in religious activities, or that hinder a child’s career path based on religious doctrine.
Honestly, teaching kids religion is indoctrination and nothing more. If your religion is so obviously true and real, why not just let your children find it on their own? Because teaching young adults to ignore reality and believe in fairy stories as if they are true is a failing proposition, that’s why!
How I wish we could have similar legislation here. The problem is Catholicism is so firmly entrenched in society. For goodness sakes, we have publicly funded Catholic schools, which is ridiculous, frankly.
But all the same, you go, Japan!