Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by StinkPalm on August 12, 2008 at 7:33pm

I totally agree. I think it is important to teach children about religion and religious beliefs so that they can better deal with the world around them. A majority of people are religious so it is necessary to understand what they believe so that you can interact with them in the best possible way.

Also my experience was that learning about religions and mythology aided in my rejection of religion. It was in jr high that I realized that there were many religions but all of them claim to be the one true religion. Yet not all of them could be correct and none of them could explain how to determine which was actually the true religion.

As for Boy scouts me and my wife are undecided. She likes all of the things they get to do and learn but the intolerance displayed by them is disturbing. Luckily my little ones are years away from anything like that so we can re-evaluate the organization in a few years and decide at that point. Also we can look into other similar groups that are more accepting.

Permalink Reply by Dawn K on July 8, 2008 at 3:03pm

I completely hear you...I never even really considered my lack of belief until my oldest (now 5) started getting close to school age. It's become so much more important to me now. I guess I have a fear of what will go on in school. Not that he'll be indoctrinated, but more fears of him being rejected by his peers.

Permalink Reply by Chris Brockman on July 8, 2008 at 3:34pm

Hey Dawn,
My children are grown and I have grandchildren, but when they were young, many of the little kids they played with would talk about god, their church, etc. I had decided that the best thing to do about god & religion was to ignore it until my children were old enough for a real philosophical discussion. But the issue confronted them from outside. I explained the rational approach to the subject to my children, but I felt I was at a disadvantage because religion and its ikons were everywhere (think children's bible stories in the doctor's office). So I wrote my own book on religious skepticism and to my delight it was published by Prometheus Books. It was the first of its kind and is still very much in print. Perhaps you would find it useful. Prometheus now has a variety of other books for children as well. Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Eli on July 8, 2008 at 3:38pm

Wow, I'd be very interested in seeing your book... once my daughter is old enough to read at least.

Permalink Reply by Chris Brockman on July 8, 2008 at 3:43pm

Eli,
"What about gods" is meant to be read to younger children or by olcer children. Check it out on Amazon. You can "look inside."

Permalink Reply by Eli on July 8, 2008 at 4:51pm

Thanks, I will definitely check it out.

Permalink Reply by Ginny on July 8, 2008 at 5:39pm

I liked this book a lot, read it to both my daughters. I borrowed a copy from the library, but it is worth buying!

Permalink Reply by Dawn K on July 9, 2008 at 7:17am

Thanks for the info. Your book looks very interesting, I will definitely look for it soon.

The reason I decided to approach the subject at a young age and on my own terms is exactly as you say it will come at them from the outside. Much like I don't want my kids to first learn about the birds and bees from their peers, I don't want their first contact with religion to be from outsiders.

I'm probably more worried than I need to be since we don't live in a particularly religious area. But I'm all about being prepared. LOL

Permalink Reply by Ginny on July 8, 2008 at 5:38pm

Hi, I was glad to see this group! I am a stay at home mom of 2 daughters. My youngest just turned 7 & is going into 2nd grade. My oldest will be 11 & about to enter 6th grade.

As of right now, neither of my girls believe in god. My youngest is starting to question though just because she sees mention of god all over the place. I know that my oldest also went through this in K - 2, so I'm hoping it is a similar thing.

It is hard because kids/people have an urge to fit in & unfortunately not believing in god makes you not fit in most of the time.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Zelnio on July 8, 2008 at 8:21pm

I am finishing up a Master degree in biology and my wife is a photographer. We have a little 2.5 year boy and 14 mo. old girl. We both are atheists (well, my wife would probably say she is agnostic...) and are avoiding religion for our children like the black plague. My parents are religious, but I think they respect our stance and let us raise our kids a we wish. Maybe they baptised them in our sleep, who knows. We just kind of smile when they say they are praying for our children.

Permalink Reply by StinkPalm on August 12, 2008 at 7:44pm

What area are you getting your masters in?

My wife is in a PhD program for molecular biology with her specialty being in bio-informatics.

Permalink Reply by Sarah on July 9, 2008 at 12:27am

Another SAHM here. My husband and I have three kids (7, 2, and 1). My son is a huge science buff, big into robots, so we haven't run into too many religious questions but they come in from time to time. The two younger girls are oblivious. We are homeschoolers but have found a wonderful group in our area of secular homeschooling families. We have been very lucky to find plenty of social activities that aren't laced with religion, especially living in Georgia.

That's us in a nutshell!

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