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Should Jesus Christ be at least introduced to a child, or should a child be raised without God?
Even if you are raising a child *with* god, you don't have to introduce Jesus Christ into the mix. My dil is Hindu, why would she introduce her child to Jesus when she was never introduced to him herself as a child.
At any rate, I would read all kinds of religious books with my children as myths. Since they are all equally unlikely to be true, I see no reason to introduce them as anything other than stories that some people happen to believe are true.
So, yes, I am raising my kids without the belief of deity or supernatural entity. That goes not only for "god" but for demons, ghosts, zombies as well. These creations and icons of pop culture remain as the myths they are.
Consider this: my 10 year old picked up a book called Physics for Dummies. The idea, at ten years old, was to read this book and gain a basic understanding of the laws of physics. This will help him to better understand the futurist writings of Michio Kaku, whom he enjoys reading. He is also a fan of Einstein, Hawking, and Brian May. And along the way, he is understanding, through science and reason, that for the universe to work, there need not be a god.
On Sundays, we often attend the luncheon at the Buddhist temple. The presenter, sometimes a layperson, sometimes a monk, will talk about social and personal responsibility, morals and how the Buddhist philosophy helps it's followers and society in the here-and-now. Basically, it is everything good and positive that did not exist at all in the churches I attended as a kid and young adult. Morals, personal responsibility for one's actions, and good based on good actions, not adherence to a belief system. Again, no god needed.
We recently started funding a group in Texas that we found out about on facebook. They are called DFW Atheists. Now most of you know my disdain for the city of Dallas. When I found a group who's motto is "Good without god" I took notice. This organization uses donations to help homeless people directly, including driving them to DR appointments, giving them water, food, getting them signed up in programs so that they have the drive to one day hopefully not be homeless.
I bring this up because when I lived in Dallas, I had numerous people at several churches rebuke me for wanting to be involved in charitable organizations. Some said "You don't have to that to get into heaven" or something along those line. But many more said "I'm not giving up my hard earned money to some bum." I heard that one over and over again.
Selfishness, greed, seem to be the basic impetus for many Christian religions, and I am trying to expose my children to a religion that does not focus on greed and selfishness, which is why we do not attend Christian services, outside the artistic performance of a Christmas Eve Mass or occasional Latin mass, which is more art than religion. My children already know that "Good" is not defined as adherence to a specific thought or belief system, but by measurable goods which improve the human condition, and harm no one.
There is a realm of mythology in our human experience. We must learn from it and take what we can. Empowering our children to be leaders and doers and thinkers is much more admirable than teaching them to sit around with their primus digitus inserted into their distal alimentary canals and say "OH never mind Jesus is coming back some day and he''ll fix everything"
Instead, children need to be taught reality. And while ghost stories make for good Hollywood, and zombies sell pictures and religion, they are useful ONLY when they teach a moral story which improves the person and inspires the person to improve the society around them. Myths are important, and as they get older, they will be able to understand the workings of Bly or Campbell, but for now, they are being taught that while stories in the Bible, for example, are not real, the symbolism and the morals they teach may be useful at some point to some degree.
Should Jesus Christ be at least introduced to a child, or should a child be raised without God?
The very phrasing of the question assumes Jesus Christ is god, a position that billions of people would disagree with, so to put it less parochially, should a child be exposed to theism and when?
Commonly held beliefs about Jesus Christ are tremendously influential in much of Western culture and a child anywhere in the West who knows nothing of the tenets of Christianity and other major religions has been done a great disservice. For one thing they will have little if no concept of what people mean when they use catch-phrases and metaphors rooted in religion ("don't cast your pearls before swine", etc).
My current wife is a lifelong unbeliever but never walled her children off from religion or "protected" them from it. She allowed them both to explore religion in an age appropriate way. Her daughter was always attracted to it and so she bought her Bible story books and allowed her to attend a Presbyterian church nearby and even went with her now and then to show solidarity (although she had the very devil of a time keeping a straight face in the services sometimes; she was born and raised in a large inner city area during the forced busing era and so is quite familiar with black culture; when the whitebread helmet-haired midwestern church ladies would try to be happy-clappy and hip, their unintentionally clueless foray into coolness was a source of endless hilarity for her).
Her son was another story, never was interested but she even made him put up with it a bit, enough to be exposed and understand it first hand.
Today the daughter is a nominal church-goer (because she's very social and her biological father and many friends go) but is an agnostic at best. She scandalized her catechism class by concluding that there is most likely no god (she shrugged and said, "you told me I could draw my own conclusions"). The son is a hardcore atheist who will have none of religion.
On the other end of things, my two children were raised as evangelicals because at the time I didn't know better. Both are agnostic atheists like myself now, and arrived there independently of me and before me. My daughter likes some aspects of church and flirted with attending a UU church but that's been about the extent of it. My son, like my wife's son and like my wife herself, always saw right through religion and had no use whatsoever for it.
I believe it's a parent's right to be biased toward their beliefs but beyond about middle school or so I don't feel it's their right to impose those beliefs on their children. Children should be progressively self-determining about important things like belief systems and should be allowed to explore and find their own beliefs (without disrespecting and acting out towards the parent's beliefs so long as they are not used as an excuse for mind control or other forms of abuse). However, many religious traditions are so old-school in this regard, obsessed with self-perpetuation of that particular religious meme, that if one's children do not embrace it, it's seen as a major parenting failure. This is too bad as it puts pressure on parents who might well otherwise be reasonable and egalitarian and tolerant, to essentially be arrogant controlling bigots.
What religion often fails to understand is that if its value proposition is that gob-smacking obvious there should be no need to circle the wagons and fend off the ideas of The Other. To the extent a belief system must demonize other belief systems as devilish sleight-of-hand, it clearly has no confidence in the evolutionary superiority of their own beliefs. Beliefs that have to be artificially and underhandedly propped up by not having to compete with other ideas are ... well, weak ideas.
She wants to raise her children without God, I guess you can say that is HER choice. But what about her children's choice? Don't you think her children have a right to choose as well?
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Originally Posted by Oldhag1
I think it is the parents' choice. Wonder how she'll react if one of her children finds God?
Thing is, children under the age of about 16 - 18 cannot properly understand theism or the idea of a sole God entity. I was forced to go o church by my religious mother (who had been forced by her mother...) and therefore I was a vigorous and devout Christian by the time I was 13 or so. I was also, and not surprisingly, fearful of thunder and lightning ("God is angry with people and is not afraid to show it!" ).
As well, I knew what I had to do to 'get into heaven!" Blah blah blah... I was also on the tram that passed the donation plate, and we kids were often admonished by the high priest of the English Church (Anglican) to give the congregation the "evil eye" if they either did not tithe or didn't give enough, but were also to to make an easily audible "why thank you for your generosity!" comment when some person gave a good tithe. So that, you see, the person next to him or her could re-consider their piddling little $0.50. Remember now, this was in the late '50s.
What a total brain-washing!
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Originally Posted by Kracer
God bless her!
Just means her path to God is more circuituitous than other travellers.
Her thought process is quite shallow, meaning she does not use her logic to explore any further than her doorstep. Her beliefs will leave her stranded in some future desperate moment.
God still loves her.
Of course, there is no God, so this would be like a path down to the city dump, but with the comment from the parent that "Oh, you'll have a great time down there!"
THe trouble with devout believing parents is that, of course, they are going to get their kids down ther to be "...washed in the glory of God and Jesus!". But knowing that it IS all nonsense, it seems highly irraitonal and also immoral.
Alternately: if you are so absolutely confident that your specific God is out there, then leave the kids alone until they are at least 16 or so, and then make sure they first go to an introductory session of "Comparative Study of Religious Philosophies of the World" where they can also be exposed to all the other and hugely different religons.
I know, I know: this is a scary concept for devout Christian believers, since in their hearts they don't want such logical exposure. And why not? Because it's more than possible such an education will forever corrupt any later-life belief (and built-in fear and coices in their possible post-high school education, avoiding, for instance, science and biology classes for the facts they will provide, and by learning The SM's proven means of thinking, including those provided within the various mis-informations that the church promulgates. Such as there being only one Abrahamic God.
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Originally Posted by NoCapo
√ I am an atheist and a former Christian of the fundamentalist evangelical persuasion.
√ At some point it is their choice, but I want them to really be able to understand before making the choice.
√* ...to be honest I know that it took me until I was in college until I was able to break free of that early conditioning and really examine myself and my faith. It took almost another decade before I finally left my faith.
-NoCapo
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Originally Posted by JrzDefector
Raising your child according to your beliefs is a parent's right. I didn't want to deal with the religious BS my mother shoveled at me when I was a kid, but I had to put up with it because she was my parent. I knew what my beliefs were, and I asserted them as I grew older.
Frankly, I think most people would choose atheism if they didn't have authority figures studiously indoctrinating them into the fairy tales of their choice.
"CNN PRODUCER NOTE TXBlue08, a mother of two teenagers in Texas, blogs about raising her children without religion. She said she shared this essay on CNN iReport because 'I just felt there is not a voice out there for women/moms like me. I think people misunderstand or are fearful of people who don’t believe in God.' What are your thoughts on this iReport?
What do you think of this article? Do you think God should be introduced to a child? Or you think Children should be raised without God.
Thank you.
I did not read the article, but I had *no* exposure to religion until I was about 12 years old (not counting the incredibly mean Mormon kids that would not let me play with them when I was living in Utah, but I digress). I made friends with a girl whose father was a minister and I went to church for the first time when I was 12 or so. It was interesting. I still cannot understand how otherwise intelligent people, can believe it, but hey, to each his own.
However, based on this article, it seems like the author is inclined to teach her kids that God is bad, I think she is somehow influencing her children's world views solely based on her own experiences, believes. She has taken away her children's freedom to choose...
Yeah, isn't that pretty much what all religious parents do while sharing their beliefs with their kids? They typically show them this is The way and the only way to go and all others are wrong.
I mean, how many religious parents teach their kids that other religions are right? They want their kids to choose and adhere to only theirs.
Intelligent parents have the where with all to separate religion from God. God is not a religious issue...Put religion aside for a moment...When a child is out and about where there is no light pollution and the stars are visible...and the child looks up and asks...where did all that come from? There is nothing corrupt about saying...it came from a source...or it was always there...or a big bang came about - shrunk down by a big crunch and then re-banged again...What is so bad about telling a child "Some believe God brought this about and we are not really even sure what God is"
To intentionally block out the possibility of a God is a disservice to your child...If you do not claim your child through God...someone else will.........Give it 16 years and your daughter might come home dressed like a vampire -covered in tattoos and stating that this is HER religion and it is none of you business if she sips on blood as a sacrament.
What is so bad about telling a child "Some believe God brought this about and we are not really even sure what God is"
As stated, nothing; it's just information. Some people DO believe that. The problem I'd have is "we are not really even sure what God is" because it assumes there is a god to be unsure about. I would say, "Some believe God brought this about and others don't". I would then further suggest that there's nothing wrong with me expressing my own personal opinions about it. This is not "intentionally blocking out he possibility of God" so long as I make it clear that s/he is free to draw their own conclusions in an age-appropriate way.
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Originally Posted by Oleg Bach
If you do not claim your child through God...someone else will.........Give it 16 years and your daughter might come home dressed like a vampire -covered in tattoos and stating that this is HER religion and it is none of you business if she sips on blood as a sacrament.
I've known "good Christian parents" whose hearts are broken when their daughter comes home dressed as a vampire, or worse. I've known stoner parents whose hearts are broken when their daughter comes home to announce she's been "saved" and starts denouncing their morality and beliefs.
I saw the Johnny Depp movie version of Dark Shadows the other day and there's a great scene were Barnabas, the 200 year old vampire, returns to his mansion for the first time to find a modern day 15 year old girl lounging on the couch. He asks with distaste, "When did the family permit harlots to reside in this house?" It's all relative. Goth clothing and tats are the least of your problems. My 32 year old daughter has a rather large (and poorly done) tattoo on her back and it makes me cringe but she is a good mother, wife, and a respected nurse. She abides by the law and pays her taxes. And she loves me. If she were goth on top of it I would still count my blessings. Raising kids is a terribly inexact science and I've learned never to judge people by the children they raise. Outcomes, near as I can tell, are basically random, and the most you can be sure of is that it's important not to neglect or harm them. But trying to instill values including respect ... it's a crap shoot. We don't have that much control over things, and god is clearly asleep at the switch.
My son asked me a couple of years ago, at Easter, "Daddy, did Jesus really come back from the dead?"
I told him no, but that there is symbolism and allegory in the myth and story of that happening, and while it is not our religion, some people want to think it really happened.
I think he's been a happy little intelligent atheist ever sine !
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