Does early exposure to religion negatively affect children well into adulthood?

The Shorter Answer

A binary yes vs. no platform is an exceedingly poor choice for the extent of possible answers to the question, especially for those who fall outside of the Rationalism vs. Religion (which most people assume is monotheism) false dilemma box.

Can early exposure to religion negatively affect children, possibly into adulthood? It depends on the religion. It depends on the interpretation and practice of each religion.

And are they practicing religion or religionism?


Religion or no, humans are never going to hammer out a lot of our prevalent problems if we don't learn about the natures of power, imagination, love, reciprocity, logic and so on.

The Longer Answer

Kids and adults can be damaged by any ideology if they learn abusive world views rather than equality.

The Power Paradigms and Some Related Concepts: http://sari0009.xanga.com/559...
Imagination and the Power Paradigms (Equality, Abuse): http://sari0009.xanga.com/603...


Alternatively, people can learn to have a functional grasp of what makes healthier world views tick: love, reciprocity, logic and applied intelligence or "life smarts" (emotional intelligence).

Different Forms of Love That Enable The Equality Power Paradigm: http://sari0009.xanga.com/762...
Reciprocity (Love thy neighbor, karma, what goes around comes around, the glue of egalitarian societies): http://sari0009.xanga.com/762...
Mission Critical Thinking: http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/itl...
Common Thinking Errors: http://psychcentral.com/lib/2...
Emotional Intelligence: http://www.bhg.com/health-fam...


Types of Religion


Atheism – there are no Gods

Agnosticism -- there may be Gods but I don't care to define them, they are ineffable

Pantheism -- the physical world is divine

Panentheism -- the Gods are everywhere

Polytheism -- there is more than one God

Animism -- everything is alive

Monism -- everything that exists is one being

Monotheism – there is the one and only true God

Nontheism -- the recognition that there are gods but the concept that they are not the best focus (various right actions and right thinking that translate into higher levels of reciprocity and love in mankind may often be thought as the better focus in nontheistic religions)

... and yet other religions or paths ...


Orthodoxy. Monotheisms are orthodoxies. Orthodoxy is primarily about correct beliefs. In our part of the world, organized religion is almost all monotheistic and tells you what you must believe, or else. Luckily we don't have to belong to any particular religion or its denominations in my country (the U.S.), but you if you don't believe whatever, you still can get excommunicated and even ostracized by friends and family who are still in the religion. Orthodoxies can be especially prone to identity clashes and resulting "culture" wars or literal wars. Some within various monotheisms and their denominations are calling to bring a greater emphasis on correct behaviors or orthopraxic elements (e.g. "Love thy neighbor," a form of reciprocal ethics). I think that's most beneficial.



Orthopraxy. Orthopraxy is about correct practices including but not limited to hospitality, perception, right actions, equality, ritual, reciprocal ethics, logic, and much more (e.g. meditation). Some orthopraxies may have some dogma (what you have to believe or else). Other orthopraxies (ADF Druidry, for example) may only have tenets (what is held to be true but may subject to tweaking and updating because other arts and disciplines, like the sciences, inform orthopraxic religions).


Religion vs. Religionism, There's a Difference



When I say that something does not equal (≠) the other it doesn't mean that things can't coexist but that one doesn't, as an axiom, equal or cause the other. It's obvious that many people mistakenly **equate** religion with religionism (the idea that religion is sufficient as major lens with with to view and interpret all)



Religion ≠ Religionism

Religion ≠ Dogma



Now, about false dilemmas. When people equate like Religion = Dogma, they often fall into certain false dilemma traps. A false dilemma is when you take all of reality, all possible options, and often people, and divide them into two supposedly opposite choices when there are many choices and these choices often are not opposites. Here are two common false dilemmas raging today. I'll start with the oldest first.



The Forces of Good™ vs. The Forces of Evil™ (Monotheism)

Rationalism vs. Religion (The Rationalists new and improved false dilemma, heh)



So it's not just religious folk that do the divisive 'us vs. them' crap by blaming religion, the "wrong" religion or lack of religion for all that's wrong with the world. The new dualism (Rationalism vs. Religion) is not much of an improvement and it's still a false dilemma...which is a logic error and that makes it...irrational.


Religion or no, humans are never going to hammer out a lot of our prevalent problems if we don't learn about the natures of power, imagination, love, reciprocity, logic and so on.