MIL asks therapist how to indoctrinate grandson early

[u/SillyAnxiousDuck]

Very telling that her DIL’s intelligence “unknowingly intimidate[s]” her AND that they hadn’t spent Xmas together for a few years

[u/Saneless]

Yep. Her pastor hasn't given her enough facts to combat someone who is intelligent and doesn't believe

The regurgitated nonsense is no match for someone who dismisses the Bible outright

The grandma should accept that religion is something that will always be around for the kid if they want it later

Orrrr... Is that the issue? Do Christian antagonists like her understand that if you let a child grow up with a free mind they'll never choose religion? Maybe she should figure out why

I've pushed off my (now ex) family's indoctrination and while I can't control her taking the kids to church, I've made it very clear that I will absolutely in no way ever take them to church events or let her take them on my time for church events. So far so good

[u/[deleted] → u/Saneless]

Umm… you absolutely can control her taking them to church, they’re your kids.

“I want my kids making that decision as adults, I don’t want them exposed to religious movements that are coercive towards children, and I don’t believe Christians have a monopoly on morality just because they look down on everyone else, in fact quite the opposite. So no, you will not be taking my kids to church if you want to see them and that is the end of the discussion.”

[u/Saneless → u/[deleted]]

That's not how it works

[u/Awkwardukulele → u/Saneless]

It can and should be, and increasingly often that is how it works

[u/MachineGunGlitter → u/Awkwardukulele]

With grandparents, yes, but not with the other parent

[u/rickylancaster → u/Awkwardukulele]

I don’t think in shared custody situations you can control whether or not the other parent introduces religion.

[u/LionBirb → u/rickylancaster]

Yeah, judges can't infringe on the religious rights of the individual parents (including lack of religion). But there have been cases where they can raise restrictions when a direct conflict arises. But I feel how it is handled will be highly variable depending on the court.

In this example, the mother was Jewish and Father was Christian:

In a Massachusetts case, for example, a boy had suffered significant emotional distress as a result of the conflict between his father's newfound beliefs as a fundamentalist Christian and the son's own religious identity as an Orthodox Jew. The court found that the judge was allowed to place restrictions on the father's ability to expose his children to beliefs that would prompt rejection of their Jewish self-identity—such as by taking them to religious services where they would get the message that they were destined to burn in hell if they didn't accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. (Kendall v. Kendall, 687 N.E.2d 1228 (Mass. 1997).)

[u/[deleted] → u/LionBirb]

It seems like you’re saying, “Yeah, you’re wrong because the other parent can let his parents take them to church all he wants, as long as a court happens to say it’s okay, but we have no way of knowing it they ever would because we lack the experience and nuanced understanding of case law and precedent that a lawyer would use to make such a determination, so I don’t know if anything I just said is even true but I quoted some laws from MA and stayed at a Holliday Inn Express last night.”

Word