Children and Religious Choice

Watch this video before reading... it is only a minute...

Andy, why do you pester people about their religion?  If it gives them peace, why do you care?

I get this question rather frequently... and I ask it of myself rather regularly.  Why do I care?  Is this just the need to be right wrapped in a different ideology?

If religion were just a pleasant set of dictums encouraging folks to be nice to each other, and giving peace about meeting loved ones after death.... well, there probably wouldn't be much to harp on.

However, religion is rarely so simple and innocent.  See the kid above? That could be a video of me. I remember feeling that same pressure around that age.

Andrew, if you have the opportunity to share the Gospel with someone and fail to, and they die tonight, their soul will be held to your account!

I did not go to Westboro. Mine was a fairly typical conservative evangelical church - of the kind that dominates the religious discussion and politics in America. Even as I got older and my faith became more liberal and I went to (seemingly) more liberal churches; I found the pressure in those churches for kids to evangelize their peers was strong.

I am sure the parents, and church, of this boy would say that he has made a commendable choice to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I would argue that choice had nothing to do with it. In order to make a choice, you must have an unbiased education in all options. He has been completely brainwashed and never had any options in the matter. In truth, he is utterly defenseless before his family and religious community.

He never had a prayer....