Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on July 13, 2010 at 9:07pm

I thought Brad was an atheist?

Permalink Reply by Justin Bonaparte on July 13, 2010 at 9:33pm

I'm pretty sure he made an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher and said everything but the 'A' word. You know he has to do the dance, wink, wink.

I'd like to ask the OP why it makes her want to puke. Sounds like they're doing a great job to me.

Permalink Reply by Sandy on July 13, 2010 at 10:08pm

I'd like to ask the OP why it makes her want to puke

Because there's no evidence that they're encouraging the children to think sceptically. It sounds like they're rich fucks who can afford to take their children religion-shopping all over the world. "They believe that religion is very important" and "Whatever religion they choose, the choice will be theirs" implies that they're giving the kids the impression that all religions are equal and that they expect them to pick one.

Permalink Reply by Justin Bonaparte on July 13, 2010 at 10:18pm

I don't require everyone to bring their kids up thinking skeptically, especially if they're not my kids.

I think we can all agree they're rich peeps.

I like that they're exposing their children to all kinds of religion, and actually have the means to take them to places where they can get a close-up look at the impact of different religious beliefs and their consequences. I think that's a lot better than what most do, which is pound their own religious dogmas down their children's throats.

Permalink Reply by Gaylene Wetzel on July 13, 2010 at 10:30pm

I think I agree with Justin. I think all this exposure will have the effect you would hope for Sandy. I suspect that most kids given the choice will choose 'none of the above'. Or, maybe that's just what I see when xians give kids their choice.

Permalink Reply by Sandy on July 14, 2010 at 1:01am

I think you're both missing the point, Gaylene. What they're proposing is teaching the kids to respect all religions. It's one thing to expose your kids to a lot of different ideologies, but then to tell them that they have to respect them all is bullshit. "Yes, I know that the Bible is full of ridiculous stories and inconsistencies, honey, but lots of people believe it, and you have to respect them for it."

Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on July 15, 2010 at 1:31pm

I really just don't like them. She seems like a bitch and he seems like a womanizer. And I'm prejudiced against rich people anyway. I can see your point that they're teaching the usual "you have to respect people's religions" (aka religion is above criticism) and will probably also teach them "it's just a tiny miniscule handful of extremists who are twisting around a beautiful, peaceful religion". Violence isn't the only harmful thing about religion but it's the only thing that they mention.

Teaching someone about world religions with no focus on any particular religion,is the best way to make them confused and eventually decide that none of the religions are true, though.

Permalink Reply by Joseph P on July 13, 2010 at 10:34pm

Besides, without the grinding in of dogma, I don't see how any child could pick any religion, except perhaps Buddhism ... which in many of its forms is just a philosophy based upon Atheism.

By the way, the last I heard, Brad was Buddhist.

Permalink Reply by Cardinal Bird on July 15, 2010 at 11:49am

I agree... when exposed to all the nonsense... The kids will likely grow up to see them all as shams. I sure did! My mom wanted me to have a variety of religious experiences which I think helped me to form my current non-beliefs.

Permalink Reply by Jim DePaulo on July 15, 2010 at 12:58pm

While my wife and I are Atheist we allowed our 2 daughters to attend church with friends if they asked. Their evaluation of the experiences convinced them of the stupidity of religion. Both of them are Atheist as are my 4 grand children. They all came to that decision without being indoctrinated to Atheism, but then, there was no indoctrination to religion either.
I contend that if children are not indoctrinated they will very likely become non-believers.

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on August 8, 2010 at 11:10am

Sandy - keep in mind this is not Pitt or Jolie telling us the story directly. It's a journalist.

It's very possible they are teaching their kids to think skeptically but the journalist either didn't see or didn't want to report that bit. What makes me want to puke about this piece is knowing that even if Pitt and Jolie are hard-core Atheists, the reporters would rather report that they are at the very least warm-and-fuzzy deists.

If I had kids, while teaching them to think critically about religion I too would expose them to many, many different faiths. If I simply ban them from reading religious texts and say "You're an Atheist!" I'm little better than a Theist who shelters them inside one faith while censoring all others. Plus, as influential as religion is on individual societies as well as the global community, I'd want my kids to be as well 'armed' as possible in that regard.

Finally, for all the ugliness of organized religion, there is also great beauty and culture in some of it. Most of the world's art has been religiously influenced. Temples, mosques, churches are among some of the most beautiful and best-designed buildings in the world. At the very least, I'd take my kid to a few churches to learn about architecture!