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Speak Up! - View Question #175 |
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Question: Can my parents Force me to go to Church ? I am Atheist.
Answer: It all depends on your age or capacity. If you are a child or have been found to be incompetent, then yes, the parents of a minor child or guardian of an incompetent person can force the child or incompetent person to go to church (or anywhere else within reason).
For practical purposes, the Constitution (First Amendment), protects your right to BELIEVE anything you want to BELIEVE, regardless of every other factor. So, even if forced to attend a ceremony you don't believe in, your freedom of belief is protected.
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| 16 thru 20 of 63 comments |
On 02/08/04
Donald from NJ said:
Im just sick and tired of being forced to go to church every sunday - i do not believe in god and my parents think that i dont believe in god because i want to use it as an excuse to not go. they have told me that i am being forced to go to open my mind - while i am there i am just bored and i started reading the bible from boredom and have found even more reasons to not believe and my parents still force me to go even when i bring up these points and they think i am just in some stage that all teenagers go through.
i want that extra time on sunday morning like all teens to sleep and they t
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On 02/06/04
Wyatt from GA said:
Hey Freddy, I too am an Atheist. Just so you know, your mom has to get you a jacket for winter, whether you believe in "god" or not. It is the law, if she doesnt, that would be classified as neglect. If you want to, you may be able to become emancipated. That is when you are not under your parents rule any more. Good luck dude!
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On 01/31/04
Frank H. from PA said:
I completely understand, my parents force me to go to church as well, and it's not that im an atheist, i just don't know what i believe anymore. I grew up with christianity being forced upon me, and how am i suppose to know that it's right. We learn about all the different societies in school, and all of them believe that everything they do is right. I feel like church, and the bible in itself could be just a huge prank, that has taken on it's own life that the people who had started it would believe it themselves if they were still around. I love my parents and everything, and that is pre
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On 01/05/04
Jen from NY said:
The Bible is an antiquity--not something to be disrespected as "a pile of Roman heresies." (It was Hebrew, by the way, not Roman) And a heresy of what? Polytheism of the ancient Greeks? That makes no sense, because the Polytheists and Pantheists didn't (and still don't) believe in the concept of heresy. To the girl who doesn't want to attend church--you shouldn't be forced to worship if you don't beleive in what is being worshipped. You have a right to your own faiths, but please don't stoop to disprespecting your parent's religion, even though they have disrespected yours. This, along w
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On 12/21/03
Peter from NE said:
I am in the same boat. I sit rather depressedly through church services, with the feeling of unchanging age and boredom in the air as the preacher goes on about things that I don't believe in. I know that I have no legal recourse, but I do have a plan. I'm a year and a half from high school graduation and going off to college. When I get to college I'm going to quietly ditch Christianity entirely. In two years I magically lose my minor status and become competent to make my own decisions. Assuming that I don't undergo a sudden conversion once I become old enough to make good decisions for mys
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