Bible Bucks

While talking with a friend the other day, the topic of religion came up. She told me a fascinating story about what going to her cousin's church was like. One detail that I found particularly interesting was the system they used for rewarding kids who went to sunday school. According to her, kids earned "Bible Bucks" from their sunday school teacher which they can then turn in for various prizes.

Curious to see if this was a common thing, I looked up Bible Bucks online and found numerous websites offering printable bible bucks and possible ways to use them. Kidssundayschool.com for example says, "Bible Bucks are a great way to reward kids for good behavior, completing memory work, bringing their Bibles to Sunday school or even inviting their friends to church."

If Sunday school is so boring for kids that you need to pay them to participate, maybe kids shouldn't have to go at all. Kids shouldn't be have to "complete memory work" if they don't want to, they should be outside playing and just being kids.The kids that receive this money are so young that they don't see the value in religion yet, and they might not see it when they are older either which is fine as well. The point is, kids should be allowed the time to grow up to a point where they can think for themselves before becoming involved in religion. Then they can choose whether or not they want to become involved in said religion or not. Otherwise, you're forcing or incentivizing to sit through something they are not interested in so you can impose your beliefs onto them. People should be allowed to form their own beliefs, not be brainwashed (a harsh term, yes, but an accurate one nonetheless) into having someone else's.

The last bit of the quote from Kidssundayschool.com really stands out to me. Because, essentially what they are doing is paying kids to go out and convert their friends to Christianity. Now when I put it like that, it seems manipulative and a little creepy, but when you think about it, maybe it is. If any adult got payed real money to go out and convert people, many people may would have a visceral reaction. And, when they use kids and fake money to achieve the same goal it's just as bad if not worse. The link between the action and the outcome may be a little bit harder to see but that doesn't change anything.

People's religious practices rarely get criticized because so many Americans strongly believe in "Freedom of Religion". But when people are doing things that aren't right, it doesn't matter whether if it's affiliated with a religion or not, you need to stand up for what you believe in and speak your mind. And in this case, I think that the entire concept of "Bible Bucks" is twisted and wrong.