# Did your parents tell you Satan was real when you were little?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 10, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993 "2013-12-10T17:13:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/1 "2013-12-10T17:13:27Z")
Inspired by a **Skald** thread.
If so, do you feel that doing so enriched or diminished your childhood?
If NOT, do you feel your childhood was enriched or diminished?
---
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/2 "2013-12-10T17:29:16Z")
Not really, we were Methodists so Satan and Hell didn’t come up that much. I don’t think the lack of imagery about souls burning in Hell for all eternity diminished my childhood.
---
### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/3 "2013-12-10T17:33:06Z")
nope. My parents never pretended God or Satan were real. I am so grateful.
---
### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/4 "2013-12-10T17:36:10Z")
No, my folks were agnostics. TV told me about Satan (mostly cartoons).
---
### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/5 "2013-12-10T17:39:08Z")
I was raised Roman Catholic and while we heard about the existence of the devil and hell, it wasn’t focused on. My father read us the Divine Comedy when we were little and I remember looking at the illustrations of folks in hell and being a little freaked out. But the devil and hellfire have never been a focus in church or at home.
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/6 "2013-12-10T17:43:46Z")
I don’t actually recall if my parents spoke about Satan directly, but they sure did believe in God and Jesus, and that it was Extremely Important that we attended church every Sunday. The pastor did talk about the Devil and our natural sinfulness and everything, so I accepted that he was just as real as God. It felt like I was being a bad person if I didn’t want to go to church, so I stressed out about that maybe meaning I wasn’t really saved.
I grew up Calvinist, Dutch Reformed, and spent way more time than was healthy for me mulling over predestination and the like. I feared that even though I believed in God and Jesus, maybe I was predestined to **not** be saved! Then I would worry over whether that doubt was Satan trying to trick me, then I would worry over whether my assumption that of course I was saved because I believed was too prideful. Then there was the whole free will versus determinism thing (I didn’t know the term for the latter at the time)… gah. Way too much stress for a grade schooler.
---
### Author:  [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/7 "2013-12-10T17:52:03Z")
If someone starts a “Did your parents tell you Santana was real when you were little?” thread my head’s going to explode.
---
### Author:  [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/8 "2013-12-10T17:59:27Z")
I doubt my parents knew anything about Santana
Or even Santeria.
I was never taught Satan was real.
I was raised Catholic and expected to learn and do all the rituals. We didn’t talk about religion much in our house. I think I was expected to learn through osmosis.
---
### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/9 "2013-12-10T18:05:37Z")
> [@Procrustus](#):
>
> nope. My parents never pretended God or Satan were real. I am so grateful.
Agreed.
---
### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/10 "2013-12-10T18:10:27Z")
My dad never talked about religion. My mom, though, is a big time fundy, and believes in Satan to this day.
It did _not_ enrich my childhood. Probably diminished it some, what with the fear of Hell hanging over my head. I do not recall being obsessed with it or anything, but it certainly was not a positive thing.
---
### Author:  [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/11 "2013-12-10T18:13:50Z")
I was taught about Satan. It diminished my childhood.
---
### Author:  [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/12 "2013-12-10T18:17:09Z")
I’m pretty sure Satan is real. He used to post here, and then was banned…I think.
---
### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/13 "2013-12-10T18:31:23Z")
I used to think he was real, but then I found out that he was just a guy dressing up in a red suit every year.
Wait…was this about Satan or Santa?
---
### Author:  [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/14 "2013-12-10T18:53:39Z")
My parents didn’t teach about satan … I didn’t find out about him till I sinned and knew that I had sinned … that wasn’t till I was 19 lol
but they did teach me to kneel and say, “Now I lay myself down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep … If I die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take”
At least it was a start 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/15 "2013-12-10T18:55:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> I used to think he was real, but then I found out that he was just a guy dressing up in a red suit every year.
>
> Wait…was this about Satan or Santa?
[Either way, you should change your evil ways.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=710072)
---
### Author:  [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/16 "2013-12-10T18:57:09Z")
Being Christmas time, I thought the OP said Santa.
---
### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/17 "2013-12-10T19:04:13Z")
I was taught Satan was real as a child. I don’t think it diminished my childhood because I was also told I was safe from him because I was a child of God.
What diminished my childhood was the fear of dying with unconfessed sin.
---
### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/18 "2013-12-10T19:04:50Z")
My mother was and my father remains a Pentecostal Christian, believing in the literal truth of the Bible and willfully blind to the Book’s innumerable internal contradictions. So, yes, they believed that Satan was a real and dangerous person. During the lead-up to the second Gulf War, my father was worried that Satan was behind the whole thing and that the end of of Earth was coming.
---
### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/19 "2013-12-10T19:08:42Z")
I wonder if anyone thinks it’s a good thing to tell kids about Satan (or God).
---
### Author:  [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993/20 "2013-12-10T19:13:20Z")
My parents sent me to catechism for that and, thankfully, I do not feel diminished.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-parents-tell-you-satan-was-real-when-you-were-little/675993.md?page=2)