I will go on the record and say that I believe bigotry to be horribly wrong. I have no right, however, to interject my opinion on the matter into someone else's family.
How in the world does going on record stating that one hopes that the children of bigoted parents grow up to reject their parents' bigotry constitute "interjecting your opinion on the matter INTO someone else's family"???
I hold the parent-child relationship in high esteem...sorry.
So do I.
Holding the parent-child relationship in high esteem has nothing to do with the willingness to express the hope that children eventually reject certain teachings of their parents. It just has to do with recognizing that parents aren't perfect, and sometimes we pass on harmful teachings and ideas to our children. I think most parents would hope that, if they have inadvertently taught their children erroneous or harmful ideas, that one day their children would be wise enough to reject those same teachings. Wouldn't any loving parent hope that for their child?
The real crux of the matter is the disagreement over what constitutes harmful or erroneous ideas.
by the way, you're really sending mixed messages. Earlier when I responded:
I will go on record saying that I hope that the children of fundamentalist polygamists grow up and find a way out of that culture. I will go on record saying that I hope the children of fanatical believers who embrace a jihad (or whatever the group may call it) against larger society grow up and find a way out of that culture. I will go on record saying that I hope the children of Muslim parents who do not believe females should be educated or go out of the house unattended grow up to reject those beliefs. I will go on record saying that I hope the children of bigoted racists grow up to reject their parents’ teachings about the “others”. I am completely comfortable going on the record making such assertions. Am I “crossing the line into the territory of the parent-child relationship” by making such assertions?
In fact, as a teacher, I teach my students to discard bigotry, even though I’m aware some of their parents embrace bigotry. So there I’ve done more than express a hope those children will abandon their parents’ bigotry, I’m actually teaching children something contrary to what some of their parents teach. Have I crossed the line?
I’m not saying that Mormonism is the equivalent of these examples. I’m using these obvious examples to demonstrate that your generalization is ill-founded. There are times – even outside abuse – when it is appropriate for members of the outside society to express the hope that children will escape certain beliefs that their parents may cherish.
You responded:
Perhaps you might do me the courtesy of assuming I am speaking of a "rule of thumb" (and what that means) before you accuse me of engaging in ill-founded reasoning.
Now you seem to be saying that going on the record with such hopes for other people's children is "interjecting your opinion into someone else's family" and would indicate that you didn't "hold parent-child relationships in high esteem".
So I have no idea what you're really saying.