You're not bloody kidding. The MidWest is the same, especially where I'm at. I think this is part of the reason my kids' friends who are atheists are so anxious to talk about it with our family - we don't just dismiss them and tell them they are "evil." Because obviously that's the "Christian" thing to do.Yeah I planned n doing that when they're older. At 6 I don't think she is really ready for that kind of nuanced discussion. Also, I don't want it to reflect badly on her.There is still a stigma against atheism,especially in the South,and if she went to school and was telling everyone that we don't believe in god or whatever I can there are people who would hold that against her.
That sounds familiar...we've all done a fine job of fucking up religion.
I don't know is actually the perfect answer. "I don't know, I haven't seen any evidence of it. What do you think?"Yeah but really anything other than "i don't know" isn't the truth. And like I said, there is a price to be paid with atheism.
Holy shit, you're incapable of seeing anything but your own perspective.I guess I'm thinking of it as, with you being a parent, your kid will look to you for the answers. Not just "here's what I think", but what you think = the world. You are the smartest person they know. Don't you owe it to them to tell them the unvarnished truth?
How do you purport to be teaching your kid critical thinking, logic and reason and then turn around and tell them fairy tales are real? I guess I would feel like I'm failing my kid as a parent if I have to do the usual mumbo jumbo about god works in mysterious ways when he asks good questions.
I'm relistening to The History of Rome, you had a very long stretch where the empire became less and less religious until it was just more or less a formality. Superstitions, like black cats and friday the 13th.And yet, generations went by and they became devout christians, muslims, zoroastrans, etc. Without a doubt, religion would live on. No matter what wedo.Would religion survive if it was not forced upon children?
No
Your children, your choice. I was raised Lutheran/Protestant. The worst that happens with most Christians in the US is a crisis of faith later on. I do not feel hostility towards anyone in particular because of it, however I am somewhat angry regarding a lot of things that went on in Sunday school, etc. (not in parents direct control) in retrospect. That is indoctrination, plain and simple. You drop your kids off in a class to have hyperchristianlady countermand the science lesson from 2nd grade on Friday.
In some ways I think being raised in a religious house makes you a wiser person when you are able to throw away the shackles of your family and community for truth and logic. Kolinahr up in here.
I don't know, I went to church as a kid and I hated all the god stuff, but everything else was awesome. Church camp, awesome. Sunday school,awesome. Youth groups, awesome. If it wasn't for all the religion, I'd go to church every week.Kid logic is different. The faith of a child is a very different kind of faith. Hodj is gonna go nuts about how it's "suspend all reason and shut the hell up". And I suppose that is one interpretation. But it's not the only one.
I do share that concern though. It's why I'm leery of being too dogmatic about it, especially regarding children. But then again... I'm childless and the theory of what I would do presented with the situation is different than whatever the reality would be.
I wouldn't be dragging my kids to church. But I would be putting age-appropriate books on the lower shelves of the bookshelf and I would be dragging them out on monthly saturday afternoon excursions with me as soon as they were old enough to be useful. And I'd probably spend saturday evening smacking them for fucking off all day instead of working. YOU TOO GOOD TO SWING A HAMMER, BOY?!?! TOO GOOD TO HELP SOMEBODY? GONNA BEAT THAT DEVIL OUTTA YOU!
But again, I'm not a parent. So what the fuck do I know really.
Not to belabor the point in here but the information age is a whole different beast than Rome.I'm relistening to The History of Rome, you had a very long stretch where the empire became less and less religious until it was just more or less a formality. Superstitions, like black cats and friday the 13th.And yet, generations went by and they became devout christians, muslims, zoroastrans, etc. Without a doubt, religion would live on. No matter what wedo.
You know, I really think it would. I think the churches themselves would die, the nation/globe spanning organizations. But this is something that scientology teaches us, one thing that it's actually good for -- no one was born into that religion. And if you took all of the child labor out of it you would not cripple it, there would still be converts lining up to take the classes and pay the tithe.Would religion survive if it was not forced upon children?
You work in an industry built on greed and lies that assumes the worst in everyone. Your profession helps people ruin others and splits up families. Your peers can be the most base creatures motivated by nothing except the mighty dollar.I guess I'm thinking of it as, with you being a parent, your kid will look to you for the answers. Not just "here's what I think", but what you think = the world. You are the smartest person they know. Don't you owe it to them to tell them the unvarnished truth?
How do you purport to be teaching your kid critical thinking, logic and reason and then turn around and tell them fairy tales are real? I guess I would feel like I'm failing my kid as a parent if I have to do the usual mumbo jumbo about god works in mysterious ways when he asks good questions.
This is small minded tripe and you should be ashamed. Since you didn't make any actual points I'll just assume this is what religious indoctrination does to you, deprives you of your critical thinking skills and common sense.You work in an industry built on greed and lies that assumes the worst in everyone. Your profession helps people ruin others and splits up families. Your peers can be the most base creatures motivated by nothing except the mighty dollar.
You should quit your job now and only work again when your children are 18 so you don't indoctrinate them into that culture of immorality.