This is very complicated, and I really have no bloody idea of what to think of it. I do think it's fantastic that people of a faith with ideals (even ones I don't necessarily agree with) to put themselves into a community of like-minded peers. The way the article reads, they won't be doing anything to bother anyone else, and there's no one living there now. However, pushing ideals onto another is a given as being wrong. And children. I can't imagine growing up in a situation like that. The same problem happens to Mormons in Utah. Like I said. Complicated. And while I have no justification for it, somehow... wrong.
My first thought is "what does the Pope say" for my initial (silly) reaction was that it must be sacreligious. My second thought was that they're going to raise the teen pregnancy rate. *headdesk*. And my third thought was to try to decide who would live there. The key to the "who'd live there" thinking is that most likely it will be devout Catholics who are very into pre-vatican 2 (although not necessarily) and will have no trouble evangelizing. I worry that someone won't start trying to force it onto someone else.
I'm floored. I know I wouldn't live there... ever.
Well, the first thing that I could see potentially happening would be child rights advocates getting involved. I think you can make a choice to live in a community like that if you're an adult, but you can't make a child live that way, and whatever issues I have with the moral state of the USA at this moment, I don't think we're at a point where so many people really think that living somewhere like that would be in the best interest of children to the point where I think it would be a viable concern that something would not happen to stop it. Fundamentalists have become very vocal lately, but they aren't in a position to make child abuse legal or convince most Americans that it's acceptable, which is what I would consider raising a child in an environment like that, just the same as I would consider it child abuse to raise a child in a religious cult.
I thank you for your postitive view of my religion.
And I would note that there's a flaw. It's not child abuse to raise your child in the religion of their parents. It is true that this is a very.... strong adherence to the laws of the church considering the society in which we live but it is simply following your religion. An established religion that has thrived and now survived well in this world.
I think there will be lots of... commentary but again, I don't think it will come from child rights advocates unless they want to argue that 1. the catholic faith is abusive towards children (prepare for a not so good battle on that one) or 2. You see something I don't... 3. They pull out the teenage pregnancy/ STD/ etc rally although I would note that the Catholic position that follows (and must due to doctrine) is that those people who are worried need to examine their lives. We aren't suppposed to have pre-marital, extra-marital sex OR to prevent the possibility of God's Will being done...
Hey, I should've been more careful in how I worded that. I did not mean to say that I think Catholicism is a cult. I definitely don't believe that. A lot of people whose beliefs are closely aligned with mine do believe something like that...I'm not one of those people, and I should have worded that comment differently.
I definitely agree that it's not child abuse to raise your child according to your religious beliefs, on principle. My parents raised me Jewish, and I'm glad they did. I think it can definitely be a really good thing to raise your child according to your religious beliefs. I don't believe that it is child abuse to raise a child as a Catholic. I do believe that if the beliefs you are raising your child by, no matter what religion they're from, are going to severely hinder that child's physical or emotional health...then that is abusive. For example, if a child were raised to believe that they should go around shooting people who smell funny, and then that child grows up and goes around shooting people who smell funny, I
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Amendment: No more Domino's for me because I don't like the thought of my money going to religious institutions without my knowledge. Although it undoubtedly happens all the time anyway... but yeah, if I want to give a religious group some money, I'll donate it.
"If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new town being built in Florida will be governed according to strict Roman Catholic principles, with no place to get an abortion, pornography or birth control."
This may be because I just woke up and am still making my way out of a really weird dream, but my first thought was "Holy shit, it's like the Disney World from hell!" And then I started thinking about, like, what rides they'd have. They could call it Popey World, and there could be a ride like the It's a Small World ride that sings "Jesus loves me, this I know...", and there could be a scary ride called Sodom & Gomorrah with a height limit marker that says "you must be taller than this salt pillar to ride Sodom & Gomorrah"...
Now I don't think I'm going to be able to think of this as anything other than HILARIOUS.
Papa John's is better, anyway. They give Earlham discounts, and they have that magical garlic sauce.
You don't have to live there if you don't want to, any more than you have to go to a private Catholic school instead of public school.
The people who decide who goes to the private Catholic school are the parents of the children who go there, which is exactly the point I'm making...the children do have to live there even if they don't want to, even if it's not in their best interest, even if it's a really bad idea...which is exactly like how a child who is sent to a private Catholic school instead of public school has to go there because their parents make the decision about where to send them.
Isn't a rather large part of parents' jobs dedicated to deciding what's right for their children? This argument just seems kind of strange. I mean, there is a reason that children don't make all of their own decisions.
If a child doesn't like living in a Catholic community, she can leave when she turns 18. Just like every other kid in America can do.
A lot of people who make babies really are NOT able to make good decisions about what's right for their children. I see this as a bigger problem than just "well, if the parents are doing something bad for their child, the child doesn't have to put up with it anymore after age 18". I'm open to examining the possibility that I may be making some unfair assumptions as to the effect that being forced to spend one's formative years in a Catholic community like that will have on someone, but I don't agree that parents should have the right to make whatever choices they want for their children. I would be open to seeing this particular choice as potentially grey area...but I don't believe it's something a parent should have the right to do to their child "whether it's right or wrong". If a parent is going to do something that's going to be physically or emotionally damaging to their child, that child isn't going to just "get over it" when they turn 18 and can leave.
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I'm floored. I know I wouldn't live there... ever.
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And I would note that there's a flaw. It's not child abuse to raise your child in the religion of their parents. It is true that this is a very.... strong adherence to the laws of the church considering the society in which we live but it is simply following your religion. An established religion that has thrived and now survived well in this world.
I think there will be lots of... commentary but again, I don't think it will come from child rights advocates unless they want to argue that 1. the catholic faith is abusive towards children (prepare for a not so good battle on that one) or 2. You see something I don't... 3. They pull out the teenage pregnancy/ STD/ etc rally although I would note that the Catholic position that follows (and must due to doctrine) is that those people who are worried need to examine their lives. We aren't suppposed to have pre-marital, extra-marital sex OR to prevent the possibility of God's Will being done...
/rant. sorry.
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I definitely agree that it's not child abuse to raise your child according to your religious beliefs, on principle. My parents raised me Jewish, and I'm glad they did. I think it can definitely be a really good thing to raise your child according to your religious beliefs. I don't believe that it is child abuse to raise a child as a Catholic. I do believe that if the beliefs you are raising your child by, no matter what religion they're from, are going to severely hinder that child's physical or emotional health...then that is abusive. For example, if a child were raised to believe that they should go around shooting people who smell funny, and then that child grows up and goes around shooting people who smell funny, I ( ... )
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This may be because I just woke up and am still making my way out of a really weird dream, but my first thought was "Holy shit, it's like the Disney World from hell!" And then I started thinking about, like, what rides they'd have. They could call it Popey World, and there could be a ride like the It's a Small World ride that sings "Jesus loves me, this I know...", and there could be a scary ride called Sodom & Gomorrah with a height limit marker that says "you must be taller than this salt pillar to ride Sodom & Gomorrah"...
Now I don't think I'm going to be able to think of this as anything other than HILARIOUS.
Papa John's is better, anyway. They give Earlham discounts, and they have that magical garlic sauce.
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You don't have to live there if you don't want to, any more than you have to go to a private Catholic school instead of public school.
Can't find an abortion clinic there?
Well, you can't exactly find one in Richmond, either.
And yes, Papa John's is vastly superior.
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The people who decide who goes to the private Catholic school are the parents of the children who go there, which is exactly the point I'm making...the children do have to live there even if they don't want to, even if it's not in their best interest, even if it's a really bad idea...which is exactly like how a child who is sent to a private Catholic school instead of public school has to go there because their parents make the decision about where to send them.
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If a child doesn't like living in a Catholic community, she can leave when she turns 18. Just like every other kid in America can do.
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