This morning I updated my facebook status to the following:
“(1azylizzie) is having ethical dilemma’s about horse riding and her views on animal rights :S what to do… what to do…”
Unfortunately my mother was online at the same time and decided to add a comment:
“For heaven sakes… – Bill loved going for rides and never ever tried to run away from the bridle. Get a grip my sweet!!”
Now don’t get me wrong, my mother is a lovely lady, and has done more wonderful things for me than I can list, however comments such as these are things that I would rather she kept to herself. I replied to my mother explaining that yes, my horse accepts the bridle, because we have forced trained him to accept it ever since he was a young foal. The fact that he accepts it doesn’t make it right.
This basic concept also applies to the indoctrination of children by religious parents….
As Richard Dawkins states in his book “The God Delusion”: There are no religious children… There are only religious parents.
Childhood religious indoctrination should be considered as a form of abuse, and parents should be forbidden to practice it. To force your religious views on someone from the moment of their birth does not give that person a fair start in life, and prevents them from developing the ability to make fair and rational judgments.
Children do not know better, and are unable to make educated, rational choices about things such as their stance on religion, because of this, they need to be protected… which brings me back to the original topic….
Animals also do not know better, and are unable to fully understand the world around them. Animals function on an instinctual level and are unable to make rational and educated decisions. It is because of this that they need protection.. Just because we have trained animals to accept certain situations, for example, horses accepting the bridle, does not mean that they would willingly choose to do so.. We as humans have the advantage of our ability to use compassion and to make objective choices.. Unlike animals we DO have the ability to choose, and therefore, we should choose what is RIGHT not what is EASY.
My mother has always belittled my choices/views on religion and animal rights, and chooses to boil it down to the idea that I am going through a ‘phase’. I am increasingly getting tired of my mother ridiculing my standpoint on such matters. Considering the fact that I was capable of creating my own separate life, it is fairly obvious that I am able to make my own, well-thought-out decisions.
Unfortunately my mother is the epitome of the average country Australian. When presented with a viewpoint different to their own, they label it as ‘weird’ or ’stupid’.
If my mother continues to comment, I will make it very clear to her that my choices are mine, and mine alone to make, and that it is no longer her concern.
I love my mother, but sometimes she can frustrate me.
Anyway, time for dinner.
1azylizzie x
Uh, I doubt your premises. I remember when I was a child I had a spiritual feeling of connection to the world. Like in Wordsworth’s poem I was “trailing clouds of glory.” This is merely a social delusion thrust upon me by my parents. My father was not religious at all, and he had the greatest impact on the development of my spiritual feelings. One should beware of taking one’s aversion to people who profess belief in a creed too far — as Dawkins does — and making a universal rule out of it, discarding all religious feeling. It’s not at all scientific. It’s just another faith.
http://www.100steps.wordpress.com
@wistle:
I understand where you are coming from, but the kind of indoctrination that I am talking about is the kind that produces children such as those of the Phelps family in the US or those seen in footage from extremist Islamic areas… Unfortunately many children that go through religious indoctrination are not free-thinking enough to be able to look above it like yourself. These children grow up to be the next generation of theists who try push ideas such as ‘Intelligent Design’, among others.
Richard Dawkins is extremely vocal, and I don’t agree with everything he says (for example his criticisms of harry potter novels), but he is fighting for a world where people everywhere are able to use rational thought and objectivity. A religious feeling does not make something real. Spirituality and religion are also very different. I do not have an issue with spirituality, I have an issue with Dogmatic belief.
@wistle:
Well, religion and science is two different things; so why is it so wrong to keep it separated?
One is based on a collection of anecdotal poems and the other one is based on reason and proof.
And science is not faith.
One of the dictionary definitions of faith is:
belief that is not based on proof
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/faith
Do I need to pontificate more?