Can parents in your country force children to participate in religious practices

[Siege]

What's a maypole?

[Syt]

What's a maypole?

An old pagan ritual still in use in parts of Europe to raise a pole in May and have young women/girls dance around it.

In my area in Northern Germany there's many "Dance into the May" events on April 30th, where people light bonfires, dance, drink and be merry to hail the start of spring.

[Razgovory]

What's a maypole?

An old pagan ritual still in use in parts of Europe to raise a pole in May and have young women/girls dance around it.

In my area in Northern Germany there's many "Dance into the May" events on April 30th, where people light bonfires, dance, drink and be merry to hail the start of spring.

You know it's always said to be "an old pagan ritual".  But when is it first recorded?  Looking around it seems the first descriptions of them are in the 16th century.  Kinda late to be pagan.

[Syt]

You know it's always said to be "an old pagan ritual".  But when is it first recorded?  Looking around it seems the first descriptions of them are in the 16th century.  Kinda late to be pagan.

Neo-pagan, then. It's strongest recurrence in Germany was during the 19th century in the wake of re-awakened German(ic) nationalism. It's about as Christian as the Easter Bunny.

[Martinus]

What's a maypole?

It's like a gay Pole, only starts with "M".

[Martinus]

Yes, as long as they're minors, children legally can be forced by their parents to do pretty much anything that doesn't involve any criminal activity.

This is a bit too broad.  The actions the juveniles are "forced" to do must be plausibly in their own interest.  I think a parent forcing a child to get a facial tattoo, for instance,would be considered abuse even if the tattoo is for "religious reasons."  Ditto for such real-world examples as clitorectomies.

Why wouldn't the kind of "mormon gulags" (even if they did not commit some of the worst attrocities described, just pretty much held kids there against their will, and subjected them to strict discipline and cut off their contacts with outside world) be considered abuse too, if of the psychological kind, then?

[Razgovory]

You know it's always said to be "an old pagan ritual".  But when is it first recorded?  Looking around it seems the first descriptions of them are in the 16th century.  Kinda late to be pagan.

Neo-pagan, then. It's strongest recurrence in Germany was during the 19th century in the wake of re-awakened German(ic) nationalism. It's about as Christian as the Easter Bunny.

I never said it was christian.  I don't even know about Neo-Pagan since it was in England in the 17th century.  They really weren't big on Neo-paganism then either.  They could date back to pagan times but I just haven't seen any evidence of that.  It could just have simply been a game some villagers came up with one day.

[Razgovory]

Yes, as long as they're minors, children legally can be forced by their parents to do pretty much anything that doesn't involve any criminal activity.

This is a bit too broad.  The actions the juveniles are "forced" to do must be plausibly in their own interest.  I think a parent forcing a child to get a facial tattoo, for instance,would be considered abuse even if the tattoo is for "religious reasons."  Ditto for such real-world examples as clitorectomies.

Why wouldn't the kind of "mormon gulags" (even if they did not commit some of the worst attrocities described, just pretty much held kids there against their will, and subjected them to strict discipline and cut off their contacts with outside world) be considered abuse too, if of the psychological kind, then?

Some people consider raising a child with gay parents is a form of abuse.

[Caliga]

Sex change operations can be forced when it is n the child's best interests (there have been some examples of things along these lines), but I agree that there are things parents cannot do, even if they are technically legal in and of themselves.

There was a case in Washington state (IIRC) a few years ago where the parents of a profoundly retarded girl (her IQ was 20 or something like that) had her surgically 'neutered', I think so that health care workers would not be able to molest her, etc.  It generated a huge amount of outrage.