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Actually, I am setting him up to attend MIT or Georgetown. Who knows, some day my son may invent the next cure for cancer of find a way to terraform Mars for human habitation.
All this while your kids are praying and grovelling "Oh please god help us"
I am teaching my kids to work and make a difference in the world, to do good with their pompous BS....what good are you teaching your kids at a parochial school?
You do know Georgetown University is a Catholic school, right?
My son is 5 years old. Ever since he was born I have been asking myself how I am going to educate him in regard to religion...My wife's side of the family are fairly Catholic. My mother-in-law had my son baptized when he was a baby (I did not protest). Well, I had finally decided that what I would tell my son regarding "God" would be that I would just avoid the subject and/or "play it off" like I was a believer when the subject came up...
Well, today, for the first time ever, my son started asking me questions about God. I just couldn't make myself betray my son by feeding him lies. I told him the truth, that God, "is not real"; and I explained that some people believe very strongly that God does exist but that my personal belief which I feel to be true is that God does not exist.
Well, he was okay with it. He said, "Okay, God isn't real. Only Santa Claus is real and he is the one that takes care of us, right?" So, I had already broken the news to him about God (the big lie), so I broke the news to him about Santa Claus as well. I told him that Santa Claus is not real either and that the presents are from me and my wife. I told him that the only people that will "take care of us", are us; and that is why we must be good people and value and appreciate each other and our families. He seemed very understanding and none of it seemed to upset him the slightest.
Long story short, did I just mess up?? Should I have let the facade carried on for years??
What do you think? How have you handled raising children being an Atheist? Please just share some thoughts on this topic because it has really been bothering me....
Since you don't really, absolutely, unequivocally know God does not exist, I think you are basically lying to your son in saying God does not exist.
Since you don't really, absolutely, unequivocally know God does not exist, I think you are basically lying to your son in saying God does not exist.
Since you have been told repeatedly that very few atheists "don't really, absolutely, unequivocally know God does not exist" then you are basically lying to us.
Do you not tell your own children that god exists? Since "you don't really, absolutely, unequivocally know God does exist" you are lying to your children.
Statistics say that the least religious nation-state might be China. However, given their traditions and whatnot, many of which are prevalent to this day, I assume Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark) is the least, uh, superstitious. I'd be curious to know what the average Swedish 7-year-old knows/thinks about life. France, Czech Republic, Estonia are up there for atheism according to the one EuroBarometer poll that Wikipedia uses as its reference point, so I'd be curious to know about those societies as well, as for what the kids think these days.
What about the 1.1 billion people in India...?
You think Santa, the Tooth Fairy, etc, are big there?
And before you try to rattle off some nonsense, I can tell you as an Indian person that there are no expectations of current manifestations of deities/etc wandering the earth.
Since you have been told repeatedly that very few atheists "don't really, absolutely, unequivocally know God does not exist" then you are basically lying to us.
Do you not tell your own children that god exists? Since "you don't really, absolutely, unequivocally know God does exist" you are lying to your children.
Dear Sizzly Friddle, the person asked if he did the right thing. I gave him my opinion which I am allowed to do. I didn't lie about anything. He doesn't really know if God does not exist. He just has an opinion God does not exist. It would have been better for him to tell his son: "Look son, some people believe God exists and some don't. I personally have not found proof of His existence. If you want to believe in Him I'm cool with that. If not, I'm cool with that too." But for him to make a pronouncement to a little child that God does not exist, is in my opinion manipulative and wrong.
Dear Sizzly Friddle, the person asked if he did the right thing. I gave him my opinion which I am allowed to do. I didn't lie about anything. He doesn't really know if God does not exist. He just has an opinion God does not exist. It would have been better for him to tell his son: "Look son, some people believe God exists and some don't. I personally have not found proof of His existence. If you want to believe in Him I'm cool with that. If not, I'm cool with that too." But for him to make a pronouncement to a little child that God does not exist, is in my opinion manipulative and wrong.
My daughter already knew God exists
Your daughter no more knows whether god exists than you do.
The OP did not lie.
Did you not read what he wrote? :
Quote:
I told him the truth, that God, "is not real"; and I explained that some people believe very strongly that God does exist but that my personal belief which I feel to be true is that God does not exist.
The OP, to the best of his ability explained what he believed to be the truth.
And Santa was a fair comparison. That's not lying.
........
My own personal opinion on this is that fairytales are part of childhood. They can be fun and can be detached from what we believe as adults. Our family still do the Easter bunny thing for example. At least in my case I think it's something you naturally grow out of... but then I wasn't brought up in America, so it's a tricky one.
My son decided god didn't exist before he decided santa didn't exist - that was when he was about 8 - he is now 12. He was attending a church school at the time (all schools in the UK are essentially church schools). Strangely my kids have never asked me directly what I believe, although we have had discussions about religion. They just have never asked me and I wanted them to make up their own minds. I always tackle conversations with: "some people believe..."
When the day comes that they ask me outright what I believe I will tell them.
I wonder what you will say when he someday requests proof. And a loved one dying or the badness in society will not be valid.
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