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Are any of your children angry that you raised them atheist?

Do you have a story about a child that never got baptized or never went to communion and are now angry adults because they aren't fitting into society, so to speak?

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Permalink Reply by Carolyn R on September 10, 2011 at 10:57am

My daughter is only 7, but she already makes fun of me for being illogical at times. She wants me to raise her MORE atheist, if that's possible, lol.

I raise her with as much honesty and reason as I can. She loves science, has little patience with magical thinking, and seems grateful to be living in a freethinking household.

If anything she gets a bit mad at me for those times when people get away with religious bullying - she hates the Pledge of Allegiance for instance, and gets upset with me that she has to go to a school that does this every morning; she says it's like the school is teaching that monotheists are more patriotic than freethinkers, and that America is only for Christians. What am I supposed to say to this? I just apologize, I wish I could change that.

She's also sometimes a little resentful that so many of the boys in her school might be coming from religious households, because who is she going to be able to date when she is older if they all believe that crazy & sexist bible crap? She quizzes me about which names are from the bible and which are not, hoping to root out other freethinkers. And she mopes that the girls talk about Jesus at school; she says she thinks that makes girls look foolish and weak, it embarrasses & annoys her.

We even went to a humanist holiday celebration, Human-light, and she was rolling her eyes at the sermon thing the UU pastor gave because it was all about Jesus, and it was difficult for me to know how to respond - the lady was telling the people "don't reject the story of Jesus or say it isn't relevant to you" at that point my girl covered her ears, and I found this socially awkward, but she had a point - there was no opening for discussion, and she disagreed with the sermon, how should she behave?

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Permalink Reply by Atheist Andrea on September 10, 2011 at 6:04pm

Sounds like you have a very intelligent girl, Carolyn! She will surely be a leader. Hope you live in a town that will accept her for who she is and not be an outcast. Or on a positive note: Hope she is the one who will liberate us all from Christianity and other nonsense.

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Permalink Reply by Lori Gilliland on February 22, 2012 at 7:37pm

I have two teens, both are not Christians. I don't see either of them resenting me for letting them grow up as freethinkers. I am happy I was able to steer them gently towards non-belief. My son could care less and my daughter and I talk about her high school classmates beliefs. It has been great, since I don't have any freethinker friends close by.

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Permalink Reply by Steve on February 22, 2012 at 8:30pm

I was agnostic myself most of my kid's childhood and came to my atheism while my kids were grown but still living at home. My daughter actually bought me a small book which was a kind of beginners guide to atheism. I would say that she is an agnostic because she does not want to rule out the possibility of continued existence. I can't blame her. Who really revels in the realization of the truth of one's mortality. My son however picked up my agnosticism first and while both he and his wife are now both non believers she gets annoyed at his utter disgust for religious types and there rambling nonsense. I am generally a non confrontational person so I kind of fear he will raise the ire of someone who might do him harm in his career as a school teacher. I think he is learning to moderate a little.