Do Children Burn in Hell?!

When I was little, I knew my parents were going to burn in hell. I went to a Baptist church and they made it very clear to everyone, children included, that if you didn't go to church, praise the lord, and 'get saved,' you were going to burn and suffer for the rest of eternity.

As a child, I was petrified. I was saved, so I was going to live in heaven after I died, but what about EVERYONE else? My friends and family were good people, they didn't deserve an eternal roasting in the Earth's core. I had nightmares.

As an adult, I view this practice for what it is: child abuse.

Hell is used as a scare tactic to brainwash young children. A child will believe anything when the alternative is never ending pain. They are raised to accept something without question... because if they don't a mean red man will take a pitchfork to their souls.

Children think visually. When someone tells them about a place, such as hell, it burns an image into their mind. To use hell / damnation as a tool to scare children should be punishable by law.

However, kids are raised this way every single day, especially in the South where I live. What kind of adults will these children become? It's simple. Instead of doing good in order to be a good person, they will do good in order to receive a reward (in this case, heaven). These adults will be afraid to question authority or challenge the norm. They will be weak minded and constantly live in fear, not only for their own soul, but for the souls of everyone they love.

My heart breaks for these children. They will never understand or know what 'could have been'.

To knowingly and willingly do this to a child is abuse.

The day I embraced my atheism and truly accepted who I was (a non-believer), I felt a profound freedom and sense of joy. I will raise my children within this joy and I can't wait to see the adults they become.

If you look at my children and pity them for not 'knowing the Lord' - DON'T - it's not my children that need the sympathy.