Matt Pryor

Religion is a belief in a higher power in an organized manor. To have religion is to have faith in something. Faith is needed in life because it makes people feel like they have a reason for being on earth. As if they are here to serve a purpose. Faith comes natural to most people, but is expressed best in a form of organized religion. I think that this should be taught at a young age so that children are given the education about the subject. It should continue until they are old enough to make a mature decision on whether or not they want to believe in a religion. Even if the parents are not religious they should not make the decision for their children. Although as a child grows older they may pick up on religion if they choose without any guided direction from their parents through their own personal beliefs, it is less likely they will decide to make that choice because they could think that they have gone this far without any religion.

The reason I believe they should teach religion at a young age is because religion helps increase faith. I do not believe in any religion. I feel that it is not important in what you have faith in, but just that you have faith. Religion helps define faith. As a child I was put into a catechism class and I was taught Catholicism through Christianity. Now that I have grown older I have made the decision not to go to church because I believe that with thousands of different religions I can’t see how one could be right. The point is that I came to that decision because I was educated about religion.

I don’t believe that religion should be used to explain the unexplainable. If a child has a question to his mother about why humans have hearts and the mother answers that god gave it to us so that we can love, I think that the mother is wrong. There is a scientific explanation to this. Every religion has stories about how and why things were created, but we must remember that these are stories. Like the cow the boy who cried wolf, Adam and Eve never existed. Certain religions make these stories to cause conflict with other religions. If we just learn the basics of the religion and leave the unexplainable exactly what it is (unexplainable) then I think that the parent has achieved the goal I am explaining.

Religion has a lot to do with morals. Morals can be taught through religion, but do not necessarily have to be. Morals can come from other things such as the way someone parents or can be learned in school. Religions do teach the morals of that religion and teach its followers that it is the “path” to heaven if followed. I do not agree with this. The way that religion teaches these morals they seem more like laws. They teach morals as being the words of God. Morals are less than that. Morals are the ways humans are different than animals. They set standards and conducts of men and women. They teach us how to fit into society and to be ethically correct. When religion comes into play, it teaches you how to fit into that certain religion more than society as a whole.

The relationship between morals and religion is that if you are a part of that religion then the morals of that religion pertain to you. If you are not part of a religion your morals are going to be different. Both set of morals are fitting in today's society, but on different levels. You do not have to be religious to be morally correct. Some argue that morals come from the ten commandments. This is true in most cases, so I can see why people have the opinion that morality derived from religion. What about the people who do not believe in the ten commandments though? Are they not morally correct? I believe moral codes are different from country to country and even city to city.

Morals and Faith should be taught to children in one way or another. Religion is an excellent way for a child to learn both. Be careful when entering a child into religion though. Make sure that what they are learning is factual and inspiring. The only way for a child to blend into today’s society is to feel that they have a purpose. Without that feeling kids will tend to give up easily and forget the differences between right and wrong. Parents are supposed to do what is best for the child even if they do not agree. If a parent is not part of a religion they should not deny their child to believe in something that is both moral and will bring them into faith.

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