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Comment by alt_f4 | Hacker News Reader

It ends up as a bad thing when it eventually translates to bad public policy. Like banning stem cells research with the justification that a large portion of the public has been schooled to believe in fairy tales.

So, unlike what the OP suggested, I do not consider this a good approach to home schooling at all. Unless children are given both sides of the story - the value of bible study vs. the criticisms - and then choose to study it, then you are effectively force-feeding religion to someone in their formative years. Depending on how "traditionalist" your views are, this could have profound effect on your child's educational achievements in sciences, should you end up enrolling him in a secular educational institution - like a State university.

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> Unless children are given both sides of the story - the value of bible study vs. the criticisms - and then choose to study it, then you are effectively force-feeding religion to someone in their formative years.

You assume that homeschooled kids are not given opportunity to learn both sides. And when have you found this to be the case in a public school?

Regarding "force-feeding": It's ridiculous to think that a parent's beliefs and ideas about the world/religion/culture/science/whatever would not have an impact on a child's beliefs.

I attempted to recount my homeschooling experience without advocating it or bible study. Indoctrination at a vulnerable age is a bad thing, for the record. Still, competent minds will learn to question such things over time.

> Still, competent minds will learn to question such things over time.

There's no question that eventually some will.

Unfortunately, that's certainly not true for most. Otherwise all politicians wouldn't be so persistent about pandering to religious groups, we wouldn't end up with representatives that believe the earth is 6000 years old, we wouldn't come up with ridiculous rules about contraception and abortion, we wouldn't be banning scientific research that can alleviate deadly disease and improve the quality of human life.

So, to sum up, good that you've learned to question things with time, but please don't assume that is a universal occurrence.

So obviously the TLDR is that reading the Bible is bad and those that do as part of a home-school curriculum should be ridiculed.

That's the TLDR if you happen to be a bit of a prick. If not, maybe you should go back to read what I actually wrote.

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