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Well, the flaw in that is that, by driving around town and giving your children a Whitman's sampler of faiths to try on and discard like so many clothes at The Gap, you allow your own to wither on the vine.
Only if your faith is so weak it cannot withstand an open mind.
I think parents owe their children a basic religious or moral framework, not some lucy-goosey "whatever you think is the most fun" philosophy. I was sent to Sunday school every Sunday, when I would have much preferred to be doing something else. But in our family, we went to church sporadically and the whole family had the same belief system. This is important for children, I think, and I'm grateful for the religious upbringing I had even though I rarely set foot in church any more.
Me too. But that has nothing to do with religion at all. You would be hard pressed to find someone who has as strong a moral compass of my 20 year old atheist son. Even I have to shake my head sometimes. He only went to church once when he was 15, because a girl invited him, and sat there mentally breaking down what the youth pastor was saying and concluding that the lesson plan was very very wrong. Not because he has a different religious views, but he has a better sense of decency, right, and wrong that the youth pastor did. The things he was trying to get them to do and to accept were, in my sons opinion, horrible. And by extention, so was religion.
Your logistical argument is valid. It would be physically difficult to have various family members practicing different faiths.
Fortunately, agnostics and atheists don't have that logistical problem.
Not necessarily.
When my eldest were still living home we had, at one count, three religions (one of which was divided into two denominations) represented, plus one atheist. It wasn't physically or logistically difficult, particularly since those who attended regularly scheduled services either drove or had friends who did.
What it did require was a tremendous amount of respect for one another's beliefs, and no de-evolution into games of "my invisible friends are better than yours". Which, especially for those who adhere to the Great Commission, is hard indeed.
Some traditions don't initiate children. I don't know if that's an issue for the OP, but I figured it was something most people in the thread would be unlikely to know. So FWIW...
I thought it was important to give my children the necessary background information about religion so they would get the jokes about it. Beyond that, not so much.
LOL! "Cultural references" was exactly why I agreed to Catholic religious ed. It makes Art History classes much easier...
If a child doubts the existence of God, it means they also are wanting to know about God due to all the reasons they are doubting it. A child doesn't doubt God just for the sake of it. They have experiences or are told to doubt God.
Not necessarily.
My daughter's rationale, and I quote, was "Well, Sister ___ says if I sin it's against God, but nobody gets upset about it except you. And I know you're not God."
I think parents owe their children a basic religious or moral framework, not some lucy-goosey "whatever you think is the most fun" philosophy. I was sent to Sunday school every Sunday, when I would have much preferred to be doing something else. But in our family, we went to church sporadically and the whole family had the same belief system. This is important for children, I think, and I'm grateful for the religious upbringing I had even though I rarely set foot in church any more.
You do realize that religion does NOT = moral right? People kill, rape, maim, discriminate against others, wage wars, etc. all in the name of religion.
Most normal Christians are not going to think you are banished to hell b/c you are a nonbeliever or a horrible person.
That is against the faith, actually.
According to you. There are a whole bunch of Church of Christ, Southern Baptist, Pentecostal, and assorted other-flavored Christians who would argue that point.
I don't understand why you need a building and a pastor to lead a moral life. Anybody can read the Bible and make their own interpretations of it.
I don't know why you need a particular book to lead a moral life, either, frankly.
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