beccastareyes

So, the Duggars, poster family for the Quiverfull movement*, have announced child number #18. Yes, from one woman. Between that, the FLDS bust, and the Scientology walkway sites (specifically http://www.exscientologykids.com, which is written by and for people raised in the Church of Scientology that left) that got linked with the whole Anonymous vs Scientology battle, and I got to thinking.

*Read: Have armies of children for Jesus.

And I realized what my problem is with all of these. It's not that they are raising their kids in their religious beliefs, which I happen to disagree with vehemently. It's that they aren't giving their children a fair choice in the matter.

Most of these kids are home-schooled or schooled by other people in the group**. They don't get contact with people from other sub-cultures within the US, let alone other cultures worldwide. They may even get told 'anyone not with us is against us, or is a sheep'. They might not gain skills mainstream society considers necessary. Add in the fact that none of these groups is that friendly to people who leave -- so not only are they facing a strange new world, they have to do it alone.

** Not saying that this is all the fault of homeschooling. Heck, you could even get a small degree of this in the stereotypical small-town public school, where everyone has the same cultural background. And the average homeschooled kid will get interaction with out-groups through other programs, or media/books/the internet. Just saying it's a lot easier to control what your kid sees when you homeschool -- which is why some people do it.

So, you have stay within the in-group, or leave -- with no help from your support network, into a world you know nothing about, and have been told is evil and corrupting. Some choice.

To play devil's advocate, no kid is going to grow up uninfluenced by their parents' and community's beliefs. However, most kids in mainstream society were both exposed to other beliefs (as other than Those People), know how to find out more about them***, and can live outside of their sub-culture while they examine their own beliefs.

*** Though this doesn't stop some bone-headed ignorance. Come on, guys, at least the isolationists' kids have an excuse.

I guess it's because freedom of choice is a very strong belief of mine, and coupled to that freedom is the ability to gather information to make the best choice. Freedom of choice means nothing if everyone manipulates the information around you so that you make the choice they want. It isn't free, if that's the case.