Posted: Mar 04, 2010 9:36 am
dOG wrote:But my position ignores the fact that a theist would believe it's harmful to their child not to lead them to god. They believe in purgatory and hell, many of them. I mean, really believe.
So, what do you say to them?
I would say that, as soon as it can be shown that the actions they take in respect of that belief are objectively reasonable in the interests of the child or of society, then they are free to do what they believe is necessary. However it should be made clear that the personal interests of the parents, and this includes their personal beliefs, no matter how strongly held, are irrelevant; their duty is an objective one.
To impress a subjective duty in this instance would be to tell someone that they 'must do as they see fit', and what would be the point of that?
To make a rough analogy, I have no concerns if the person who controls my investments believes in astrology, so long as when it comes to making investments on my behalf they do so on the basis of which investments it is objectively reasonable to make, and not on the basis that Jupiter being on the cusp of Saturn is telling them to be adventurous and take more risks!