To all you athiests out there. If your children were doing religious education at school and came home?

Question

talking about Jesus and God, and they wanted to go to sunday school to learn more would you let them go. Would you let them make thier own disiccions without having your non beliefs stuffed down thier thoats? If they ended up becoming christians would you leave then alone or try and discourge them into thinking like you? I am not trying to to nasty here, I jst want to know if you would respect your childs desiccion like you would want them to respect yours? Just curious. And if they ended up wanting to be baptised would you still love them. If they prayed a lot and read the bible a lot would you still love them? If they gave thier hearts to Jesus will you still love them?

And when they grew up and still loved Jesus and you persicuted them and they left home and wanted nothing much to do with you then what would you do, would yo still love them

Answer 1

I don't see why they would be learning about any religion at a public school. In the United States, we have separation of church and state. As for my daughter, I have always supported her following whatever religion she chooses. She has tried many religions and is currently studying Christianity.
Would you be supportive and love your child if she came home and decided she wanted to be Atheist? Do you think all the world religions should be taught in schools? It works both ways.

Answer 2

Yes. In fact we did just that. My son wanted to attend “youth groups” with his friends. We let him. We have several copies of several different versions of the bible. I showed my child where they were and gave him free access to them. I did not express any opinion at all. I let him go to "youth group" with friends. He listened to what those folks had to say and how they said it.

Inevitably, he posed questions. Those questions related to the glaring contradictions he saw in religious philosophy. I did not answer them with prejudice. Instead, I offered different explanations and quoted sources for each. I encouraged him to think for himself without interference.

Please keep in mind that these religious camps and groups he visited were voluntary, not in school.

If I found out that any religious hokum like creationism was being taught in school, I would immediately file a complaint with the state education board and sue if necessary.

Schools have no business teaching anything religious, other than comparative religion. Even then, those classes should not be mandatory. They must be elective classes in the higher grade levels.

Young minds are not naturally religious nor or they capable of comprehending philosophical concepts. They are susceptible to fear and hatred however. That's why we keep our kids away from it as much as possible.

Only a person who is indoctrinated in a religion from an early age can be browbeaten into claiming adherence to it. That's why Muslim children believe different things from Christian children. Obviously, the two different groups of children are not born with a predisposition to become Muslim or Christian. It is only by proximity and continual social pressure that people "believe" anything. If there was a single universal truth and religion had the answers, then all religions would be at peace. They would all teach exactly the same things.

By the way, my child still goes to those youth groups occasionally and still has some of those old friends. A few of them still claim to be Christian. I do not prohibit him seeing them. Nor do I browbeat them with my personal philosophies when they come to visit. Two of the brightest happen to be atheist. They are well adjusted, doing very well in school and have a broad range of extra curricular activities. The atheist kids are polite and pleasant houseguests. So are a couple of the Christian kids. We all get along just fine.

Of course, we all love our children. In matters of education, atheists also have a type of "faith;" that is, …no sane child will ever believe in religion. All you have to do is not brainwash them. We concentrate on teaching them HOW to think, not WHAT to think. Smart kids will make up their own minds in due time.

Answer 3

With all due respect Leanne, each parent has the right and responsibility to teach their children their beliefs about religion and when they grow up if they change then the parents should respect tham.

Even as a Christian I was against religion in schools and I miss Madelene Murry O' Hare because schools are starting to discriminate against non Christjan children now.

I mistakenly sent my kids to a Christian school with different beliefs than I held thinking they could think on their own. That school and my parents turned them against me and I was a Christian, just not their kind of christian. I refused to believe Satan was sending his demons to attack me and saw their miracles and dreams fail.

My parents hated me so much they were only happy when the destroyed my relationship with my children and me.

I am not being mean Leanne, but certain Christian faiths breeds hate and contempt for anyone including other Christians who differ from them.

Public schools should teach history, math and othe reducational subjects and let the perents teach their children faith or no faith.

BB

Answer 4

Sorry that is silly question--no matter what my girls do I will love them dearly and fight for their right to believe whatever they want
They both attend Christian colleges. I think their basic belief system is Christianity. I have not pushed them for details. I am not a huge fan of religious discussions. I know more about the important things in their lives such as how much they drink, who thier friends are, where they are, and when thier birth control needs refilling

I exposed my children to various religions in their formative years. Although I was a "fundie" myself, I never 'badmouthed' the other churches or religions we explored. I did let them know that I was Christian and what I believed but also urged them to keep an open mind to others be it Judaism, Wicca or Paganism. We never had exposure to Islam as there was no place in our area that practiced it. My children are very open minded to others' beliefs, Even my disbelief.

Answer 5

Well, I'm not technically Athiest (more like Agnostic), but of course I'd let my child persue whatever religious salvation they saw fit. No matter how much I could prevent them from attending church or the like, they are going to believe whatever they believe anyway, and there is no way I'm going to stop them. As for the love part, of course! Why would I stop loving my child because they've found a faith that is not the same as my own? I think I would respect them all the more for thinking outside the family circle and finding something that they solidly believe in (I wish I could), whether I believe in it or not.

Answer 6

Now I'm not a whole lot of religious, but you have to ask it the other way around too. If a Christian's son or daughter came home with antichrist material and books on the devil would you let them make their own decision, and if they ended up dressing and acting like the devil would you still love them?

Answer 7

LOL @ the 1st answer.. :) Yeah, ethic would be an excellent concept, yet i'm not too specific how involved little ones would be in ethics. individually i think of coaching faith to everybody in spite of in the event that they don't look to be non secular, is purely idiotic. yet then with ethics, some little ones will purely declare they already understand what's suited/incorrect. With faith that's greater brainwashing and controlling because of the fact a supernatural being stated so and it is composed of historic previous (genuine/faux). non secular guidance could be optionally available in Australia, and not in straightforward terms Christianity could study. yet i think of faith should not be "taught" in public college ever (except it have been a non secular college). My college had a Christian membership that a guy used to return in and consult from each and every lunch time on Wednesday. i think of it somewhat is lots greater better than having faith etched into guidance.

Answer 8

I would talk about it with them, sure. My reaction would depend on their age.

Religion uses some fairly powerful indoctrination techniques which a young child would be too susceptible to. However, when they reached an age when they have a fairly good handle on how to reason, which differs from child to child, I would teach them, myself, about the various religions of the world. I would encourage them to read the Bible, Koran, and other books. You need that background to understand many other literary works which reference them. I would also encourage them to visit places of worship so they can see, for themselves, how that works but only when they are old enough to understand it fully.

If, when they got older, they decided to follow one religion or another, they would do so with open eyes. If after learning how religion works and its history, they still wanted to buy into it, that would be their decision and I would respect that.

My love for my children would be independent of whatever superstitions they fall for.

Answer 9

Yes, if they'd given the whole thing serious consideration and thought about what each set of ideas consisted of before making a firm commitment, I'd be very happy for them. It is ridiculous to ask if I would still love them. Christians who have arrived at their faith by thoughtful consideration are usually very good people.

Christians who are dragged up through their faith out of fear and anger, on the other hand, those who cling to their faith to fend off the threats that are made for not doing so, and who then tend to be just as threatening towards others themselves, are repellent individuals. They wonder why we call that sort of thing child abuse.

Which are you, I wonder?

Answer 10

I am an atheist, as is my wife.
My step-kids go to Sunday school and are in religious schooling. Its fine with us. The only thing we do is make sure they understand that its one option, not the only one. Even though theyre young, theyre learning that other religions are just as valid, and that having no religion is just as valid as that. When they ask us to take them to church we try to find a religion theyve not been introduced to yet and attend a few services for that instead of sticking with the standard Christian services.