A moral dilemma?

What is your view of the news that an 8yo girl became a Jain nun?

Also, this isn’t an isolated incident. Nor is Jainism unique about this. Almost every religion has a tradition of children being given into monk/nun-hood by their parents, either as tradition or as fulfilment of some promise.

I ask this in all honesty and humility of not having a pat response about where it stands legally or morally.

For example: How is it any different than (at the most benign end) piercing the girl’s ears and thus mutilating her body permanently before she attains majority/monetising the child through labour or as an income source on social media (say), or (at the most malicious) getting her married as a child/putting her in ghoonghat or burqa, or (at the evil end) sacrificing her life at the altar to gain ‘punya‘/selling her into slavery?

You think I exaggerate? I agree. But as rational humans, we must follow the thread of logic as far as it takes us, even if it turns out to be in a direction we don’t instinctively like.

So, let us consider more realistic cases in between the extremities listed above that lie on what I believe is a continuum rather than some sort of black & white clearly demarcated areas: deciding which school she’ll attend and what subjects she will take, what physical or artistic pursuits she would have, what she’d wear, which god she’d believe in, which language she’ll speak, what specific dietary preference she would have, how her hair would be styled, and where she’d stay?

I mean, there are a million decisions we parents make wrt our child, and not all of them have the approval of the rest of the family or society (though, by and large, these are legal decisions in the sense that there are no laws expressly prohibiting us). Not all of them offer agency to our children. Not all of them are reversible. Not all of them turn out well in the long run, or sometimes, even much before that.

So, what is the line that defines the ‘thus far and no further’, and who decides this line? The law, of course, which is more or less a reflection of our social mores. And the community on which we depend for cooperative living. So, one would assume that as long as the law and our community condones, or at least does not condemn, the choices that we make on behalf of our child, we should be fine, right?

Or not?

P.S.: Instinctively, I think it is child abuse. However, as a rationalist, I need to arrive at this conclusion through logical reasoning and not gut instinct. My appeal to my intelligent friends is to help me find that line of thought.

P.P.S.: I will be adding to this post more points as they come to me.

P.P.P.S.: Please be kind. I have admitted to my ignorance and inability to have a response that will satisfy all use cases, or at least most of them. And so, am truly confused. I have accepted the possibility I may be wrong. I request you approach this with soft hands.