It has recently come to my attention that Religion plays a huge role on each and every one of our lives. Being a teenager with minimal, if not, no enlightening experiences about religion and God, I have not yet decided exactly if there is a great controller of the universe. My family is orientated around Hinduism, one of many complex religions that over thousands of years, has developed many legends and myths. The stories are elaborate and fascinating; however some of them seem too superficial and downright impossible to believe! What with flying monkeys and holy men fasting for 40 days goes against scientific evidences and theories of evolution; clearly marking such legends as false. However many millions of people are drawn into such beliefs of fate, karma and there being an ultimate God so much that it dictates their daily lives, youth also being affected.

In the society we live in today, many teenagers are hardly swayed by religious talks like praying to God will help you gain grades. What many of us don’t know that there is a minority of children out there who have been brain-washed by religious talks. There is the 12 year old boy I know of who has gained an unhealthy obsession of devotion to his beliefs and religion. His parents say that the priests from the temple have ‘influenced’ the small child into praying day in day out for three hours in the morning, resisting to go to school to gain an education. He sees no harm in the world, claiming that there is no evil in the world and that everyone is innocent. He has been deluded by holy people into believing such ridiculous ideology and seeing his family manage his mental instability is saddening. How comes a small 12 year old boy who knows nothing about the adult world that he lives in can follow a strict regime of praying and worshipping an God that may not even exist?

In conclusion, I believe that people in society and religious folk who have made up atrocious and difficult rules to live by and gain enlightenment have forced this burden upon the newer generation to abide by, snatching away our freedom and limiting our life. Is it right for adults to force religion upon small children and brain-wash them? I think not.