Child abuse
Child abuse is defined as the ill-treatment of children under the care of those who should provide for them properly. This is considered morally wrong, particularly because of the trust a child would put in their carer or parents; allowing abusers almost free rein to do what they like without too much fear. Although if they are caught, child abusers are usually top targets for vigilantes.
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[edit] Forms
There are, sadly, many forms of child abuse, some intentional and some not. These include:
- Physical abuse.
- Sexual contact with children.
- Leaving children alone without resort to competent adult supervision.[2]
- Not providing adequate nutrition.
- Not providing adequate shelter or clothing.
- Neglecting children for the internet.[3]
- Putting children in situations where they are obliged to witness scenes of adult violence.
- Forcing children to lie about important matters.
- Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSbP), because of which the parent forces the child to become sick, usually through the ingestion of pills or feces.
- Deliberately choosing not to vaccinate one's children (except where the child has an allergic or otherwise adverse reaction to vaccines).
- Emotionally manipulating the child; parents use 'head games' to get what they want in return for conditional love, etc., training children to doubt and hate themselves and manipulate others.
Children who are abused may be inadvertently taught bad social and/or emotional skills in the process, including passive aggressive behavior, other relational aggression, self-hatred and doubt, etc.
[edit] More controversial forms
Some members of RationalWiki also think there are other forms of child abuse, which can be equally crippling to the child and equally bad for the society in which it occurs. These are controversial mostly because a large portion of the population do it and consider it perfectly acceptable.
These include:
- Denying the child access to facts about the world they live in.
- Telling the child lies about the nature of other people.
- Refusing to expose the child to ideas outside a small range.
- Indoctrinating the child in religious (or atheistic, or political) mythology.
- Frightening children by telling them they will be punished eternally by a supernatural being if they don't follow certain rules.
- Telling the child that their race, religion, or country is intrinsically better than all others.
- Generating a sense of guilt in children in respect of natural sexual development.
- Telling a child what to think rather than teaching a child how to think.
- Churches where the children are told they will burn in hell forever if they don't blindly follow the god of choice
- Hell Houses
- Mutilating the child's genitals, whether male or female.
[edit] See also
- Catholic Church
- Child sexual abuse
- Focus on the Family
- Homeschooling
- Richard Dawkins on religious child abuse
- To Train Up a Child
[edit] External links
- Religion's Real Child Abuse by Richard Dawkins
- PZ Myers lists some Papal excuses
- The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Jessica Bennett. "Coloring Outside the Lines." The Daily Beast. 2007 December 1.
- ↑ Most US states have laws against leaving a child under thirteen home alone.
- ↑ "Nev. couple blame Internet for child neglect." Associated Press. 2007 July 16.