Any atheists not raised by atheist parents? Christians not raised by Christian parents?

Question

What exactly led you to your current belief system? What religion or lack thereof were your parents? Do you think it matters how a child is raised and taught to think?

Curiously, no Christians have answered yet...are there none who were not indoctrinated by their parents?

Answer 1

Yeah. Was raised by Lutheran parents and pretty much an entirely Lutheran family.

What led me to this point was a number of things, including Biblical discrepancies, Biblical contradictions(a personal favorite is going from "love one another" to "those who cannot hate their parents and brothers cannot be followers"), various religious scandals that the religious are quick to forget or pretend aren't happening, as well as a fair bit of emotional abuse by a few members of my family who used religion in their abuse.

As far as how much it matters how a child is raised and taught to think, that's something of a loaded question that I'll do my best to answer.

First off, unless it's my own child, I frankly have no right to tell anyone how to raise their kids, no more than anyone has the right to tell me how to raise mine. So while I may not agree with religious indoctrination(truthfully, I strongly disagree with it, but that's beside the point), they're not my kids, so if a parent wants to indoctrinate their child in one religion or another, that's their business.

Secondly, it all depends. If a child is raised to be respectful of other beliefs, even if those beliefs go against everything they've been taught religiously, then it doesn't matter. Not all Christians are zealots, so a person can certainly be Christian and respectful if they're taught to be tolerant and respectful of others.

However, if a child is taught to hate and disrespect those who are of a different religion(and frankly, this is true of all religions, but since Christianity and atheism were addressed in this question, that's what I'll stick with for the course of this particular discussion), then it becomes a problem. No, I'm not talking about proselytization and sharing one's faith. Just talking about one's religion(or lack thereof) is hardly a problem or offensive to me.

It's the kids who have been taught to aggressively go after the "unchurched" despite repeated polite refusals, who have been taught to espouse hatred towards those who are different from their beliefs, perhaps even do them harm. That I have issues with because I don't that's the sort of thing any religion is truly about.

Something I've noticed, both on YA and elsewhere, is that most religions themselves are about peace, harmony, etc. Yet a lot of followers have problems carrying that out, despite professing that they're trying to bring peace to the world. So it's not necessarily religion that causes such arguements, strife, and even war. It's hatred of our differences.

Religion itself doesn't put a knife to your throat and tell you to go out harassing and killing people that don't follow that belief or its tenets. Hatred of those different people does. So if you teach a kid to be polite and respectful and tolerant, that works quite well towards the whole point of any religion. Teaching a kid to hate and cause harm in the name of a religion is completely counterproductive to said religion, regardless of what it is.

Answer 2

What led me to become an atheist? Well, the whole christian dogma explains nothing to me and most religions explanation of life (as far as I know) are non-sense. I studied about other religions and philosophy when I was in my moment of doubt, this made things clear, deities are non-sense to me. I have no intentions to be rude, but that's what they mean to me, the christian god is, for me, as real as Thor or Apollo.

I was raised in a catholic family. Most my relatives are either catholic or christians of another denomination. I studied the catholic catechism like every other catholic kid and read the bible from cover to cover (twice so far).

Do you think it matters how a child is raised and taught to think? Yes, I think so. Indoctrination is, for me, some kind of abuse. Chances are that kids will likely believe what their parents taught them from an early age, that includes being an atheist, communist, christian, muslim or republican. It was hard for me to accept I was an atheist and to be honest about my position to everyone else, since I was taught from an early age that being an atheist was basically the same than being a criminal, it was some kind of a "dirty word", so, I didn't feel comfortable in the beginning.

I had and still have a great relationship with my parents and relatives. No such thing as "authority issues".

Bye,

Answer 3

My parents are very religious. My mother is a Christian literalist/fundamentalist and my father.. well, he's not quite as literal.

What led me to be an atheist? My parents, especially my father, who is a doctor. They raised me to constantly ask questions and investigate things, to observe the world and be skeptical of any claims, except those made by religion. It was when I turned that to religion the facade began to peel away. Coupled with that, I read Atheism: A Case Against God, which showed me that life without god was not only possible, it was much better and more fulfilling.

It absolutely matters how a child is raised. A child should be encouraged to ask questions and find their own answers. Critical thinking is not something we are born with; it is something that we learn and must constantly develop. Now, whether that critical thinking leads you to atheism or to theism is irrelevant.

Answer 4

Hi! Right here! Raised by Catholics. Love my parents. Wonderful people, very liberal in their thinking. Not strict in any sense of the word. I believe they're even registered Democrat, both of them!

While atheism isn't a "belief system", what led me to my current point of view is the simple realization that there are no gods. It is not possible for gods to exist in the way that Christianity conceives of the concept.

I think it is important to instill compassion into a child. If the seed is there, water it. I'm not speaking of indoctrinating the child into any particular faith, I'm just saying it's good to teach children to be generally good human beings.

Answer 5

Agnostic atheist raised by religious parents (Catholic Christian mother, Jewish father). I was raised Catholic, but simply because to ask myself if I really believed what I was being told in church and catechism class. I started doing a lot of thinking and reading about philosophy and many different religions, and decided that I didn't believe in a god.

Answer 6

I'll answer for my wife.

She was raised in a faith.

However, her father was a beater and very cruel.

She turned to her god for intervention. None came

She turned to her church learders for help. They chose not to get involved, calling in a "private family matter."

She found the courgage within herself to stand up to him and stop the beatings.

She realized that God was a myth, religion was of no use and faith meant nothing.

It matter what the child can actually see, feel and taste

Answer 7

Both of my parents, all my siblings and most of my close relatives are all Christian.

I read the Bible all the way through at 10, realized by basic grade-school-level commonsense that what I was reading was absolute nonsense. So I rejected it.

Answer 8

A child is gonna be most likely on his parents religion.
Because they're gonna help brain-wash him/her.

I'm an Atheist, my parents were Muslims, it was really hard to break those chains and finally understand that I've been brain-washed.

Answer 9

I'm Wiccan. I was raised by Catholics. My husband leans toward Buddhism and his father is a Methodist Minister.

Yes, I think it matters how you were raised. Most people are naturally drawn toward what they were raised in.

My husband and I were very lucky. Both of our parents leaned toward allowing us to learn our own truths and didn't discourage us. They were all very openminded in regards to religion.

Answer 10

This atheist was raised Catholic and my parents are still Catholic. One of my sisters is also an atheist, the other is Catholic (though less devout than she used to be), and our brother is some strain of Baptist.

There are atheists who were raised Jewish, Muslim, gently-uncertain Episcopalian and fire-and-brimstone Baptist. Denomination and doctrine don't seem to matter -- either you believe or you don't.