Children's Religion

Do you plan on teaching your children your religion?
How will you accomplish the task, Church, private study or not at all?

Will you be truthful to your children answer honestly questions put before you?

do you think it is okay to force your religion on your children?

will you allow them to expand their view and read all books that may or not pertain to your beliefs?

when should a child be exposed to religion?

i ask these questions b/c like history/religion tends to get a white wash with a roller over things ppl don't want others to see b/c it makes it's historical figure look bad or not shine as brightly.

Do you think it is okay to judge others especially children on their religion or cultural background whether atheist, theist or agnostic?

how would you feel if your child loses or changes his faith no longer embracing your own?

what would you do?

I'm an atheist, so i'd probably do nothing.

Assuming I have kids:

Originally posted by King Castle
Do you plan on teaching your children your religion?
How will you accomplish the task, Church, private study or not at all?

Will you be truthful to your children answer honestly questions put before you?

I would tell my children why I believe what I do if they ever asked me.

Originally posted by King Castle
do you think it is okay to force your religion on your children?

Given all the other things we force on them I don't think religion can be singled as an especially bad thing to force on your children, within the same limits I would apply to the rest of parenting.

Originally posted by King Castle
will you allow them to expand their view and read all books that may or not pertain to your beliefs?

Sure, why not?

Originally posted by King Castle
when should a child be exposed to religion?

When they show an interest in it.

Alternately at a very young age, as part of other fairy tales and legends that I read to them as a child. I consider knowledge of such stories to be part of one's basic cultural education.

Originally posted by King Castle
Do you think it is okay to judge others especially children on their religion or cultural background whether atheist, theist or agnostic?

Judging adults based on their beliefs is fine. They're expected to understand the world and think about it on their own. Kids, especially under under twelve, really don't and can't be expected to. I wouldn't judge them for their beliefs for the same reason I don't believe they are equipped to enter into a legal contract.

To cram it down their throats is brainwashing though many don't see it like that. If you're going to teach your children religion, then you should also teach them about others beliefs in a positive way. Understanding will go far when they meet others that have different beliefs.

Originally posted by King Kandy
I'm an atheist, so i'd probably do nothing.

I am planning when I have kids teach about Religion the same way my parents taught me but less strict.

Originally posted by King Castle
Do you plan on teaching your children your religion?
How will you accomplish the task, Church, private study or not at all?

I'd likely talk about religions very academically, as in, this is what christians believe, this is what muslims believe, etc.

Originally posted by King Castle
Will you be truthful to your children answer honestly questions put before you?

absolutely, though I imagine, from experiencing this with a friend's kids, that there questions are going to be more about why other kids are telling them evolution isn't real or making fun of them for not being religious. In that context, honesty is important, but I'd probably have to watch the cynicism

Originally posted by King Castle
do you think it is okay to force your religion on your children?

no less so than it is to force all other sorts of ideals that we do on kids

Originally posted by King Castle
will you allow them to expand their view and read all books that may or not pertain to your beliefs?

I hope my children would read things that challange what I believe or have taught them

Originally posted by King Castle
when should a child be exposed to religion?

that is hardly a choice I get to make. In a perfect world, maybe people, if they still need to believe irrational things, would keep it to themselves, however, in the modern world churches are teaching their kids to prostelitize to their friends and classmates, and street preachers have no scruples about warning children of the dangers of hell.

I'm not saying they should be sheltered from it forever, but more it should be up to the child to decide if they want that type of thing in their life, and recieve exposure that way.

Originally posted by King Castle
i ask these questions b/c like history/religion tends to get a white wash with a roller over things ppl don't want others to see b/c it makes it's historical figure look bad or not shine as brightly.

that is a bias with anything. My children would obviously be aware of my political views, or morals, and it would be hard for me to do anything but promote those as the best.

I do get your deeper point, but most of that isn't a parent's choice either. society at large believes the whitewash, so you can hardly blame a parent for passing on something they believe to be true.

Originally posted by King Castle
Do you think it is okay to judge others especially children on their religion or cultural background whether atheist, theist or agnostic?

no, especially not children

Originally posted by King Castle
how would you feel if your child loses or changes his faith no longer embracing your own?

so long as it is what they want for their life I would support it

I don't intend to have children (to give the next generation a fair competetive chance), but...

Originally posted by King Castle
Do you plan on teaching your children your religion?

I do not have a Religion. I would tell them what I believe (if I knew what I believe) and I would talk about what other Religions are there and how they influenced me.

Originally posted by King Castle
How will you accomplish the task, Church, private study or not at all?

Privately.

Originally posted by King Castle
Will you be truthful to your children answer honestly questions put before you?

Yes.

Originally posted by King Castle
do you think it is okay to force your religion on your children?

No.

Originally posted by King Castle
will you allow them to expand their view and read all books that may or not pertain to your beliefs?

Yes.

Originally posted by King Castle
when should a child be exposed to religion?

When they show interest or it becomes an issue for them. Or before if it comes up.

Originally posted by King Castle
i ask these questions b/c like history/religion tends to get a white wash with a roller over things ppl don't want others to see b/c it makes it's historical figure look bad or not shine as brightly.

I'd also talk about history freely as far as I know.

Originally posted by King Castle
Do you think it is okay to judge others especially children on their religion or cultural background whether atheist, theist or agnostic?

No

Originally posted by King Castle
how would you feel if your child loses or changes his faith no longer embracing your own?

I'd hope they be happy, and be willing to discuss their reasons with them if they chose to.

Originally posted by King Castle
what would you do?

What I just said.

Reather you don't teach your kids about Religion or not they are going to hear about it never the less and leave you to answear there questions about it.

Originally posted by ADarksideJedi
Reather you don't teach your kids about Religion or not they are going to hear about it never the less and leave you to answear there questions about it.

Indeed.

I am guessing you argree thats good.

Originally posted by ADarksideJedi
I am guessing you argree thats good.

Well, I think you should prepare your children for it. In general I think exposure to different ideas is not a bad thing, but especially with Religion it can be very intense and frightening, so talking about it is a smart idea.

You just do it in a logical way, something like: We believe this because.....but the neighbors believe in reincarnation because......

It was odd that once a very young girl, around 6, started asking me about where we were before we got into our body's and she not being brought up believing in reincarnation, stunned me, So, I said to her, "Well, where do you think we were?" We talked a bit and then she said, "I think we were in other bodies." I knew her father was listening and didn't believe in reincarnation and I didn't want to get him upset, so I used a Bible verse that I knew of. I said many people believe that people do come from one body to another but the Bible also says that the spirit goes back to god who gave it and left it at that. This girl started asking me all kinds of questions that she believed was true and it was reincarnation. I later went over to the father and asked him if she ever heard of that idea before. He said she didn't and wasn't happy about me answering with open ended questions.

I was only encouraging her to think. I wasn't answering her questions but asking her to think them out herself.

Originally posted by Deja~vu
It was odd that once a very young girl, around 6, started asking me about where we were before we got into our body's and she not being brought up believing in reincarnation, stunned me, So, I said to her, "Well, where do you think we were?" We talked a bit and then she said, "I think we were in other bodies." I knew her father was listening and didn't believe in reincarnation and I didn't want to get him upset, so I used a Bible verse that I knew of. I said many people believe that people do come from one body to another but the Bible also says that the spirit goes back to god who gave it and left it at that. This girl started asking me all kinds of questions that she believed was true and it was reincarnation. I later went over to the father and asked him if she ever heard of that idea before. He said she didn't and wasn't happy about me answering with open ended questions.

Strict Baptist, need I say more? lol

FundaMENTAL heaven.

She started asking such high intellegence thoughts like: Where do your thoughts come from before they come into our heads and where do they go once they leave.

Anyone thinking she is smarter than many adults?

I thought it was really cool for a little kid.

Originally posted by Deja~vu
Strict Baptist, need I say more? lol

FundaMENTAL heaven.

She started asking such high intellegence thoughts like: Where do your thoughts come from before they come into our heads and where do they go once they leave.

Anyone thinking she is smarter than many adults?

I thought it was really cool for a little kid.

Perhaps someone should alert the Tibetan monks.

there was a study done or some shite that asked kids questions about what they think about where they come from surprisingly many kids think they were other people and reborn some were waiting in heaven to be born..

it is hard to figure out where their ideas come from if parents, television other children or simply on their own. some children come from house holds where such views aren't talked about.

either way apparently kids hit an age where such ideas start to fade either 6 or 8 and they start to become more cynical

YouTube video

either way i just let my child believe what he wants and ask him question and just write or record his responses if he ever made such claims so he can have something of his childhood who knows.

a child claimed to be his own reincarnated child and remembered his own life and murdered sister which no one new till his father did a family check and discovered it to be true.

hnYmrBPDKUw&feature=related

Originally posted by King Castle
well as an atheist how would you feel if he/she found religion?

It's almost a Catch-22. If you do nothing and let them "decide on their own" they'll inevitably run across someone looking to convert them to something or other. Or you push them toward your belief, thus a form of indoctrination either way. Very few will simply float along un-manipulated and then research and decide for themselves.

To that affect, I'd explain to them that I would never mind my kids believing something different than I did, but I'd also explain the critical thinking and logical arguments I use that led me to my non-religiosity. Basically, I just wouldn't give them an intellectual free pass if they decided to be religious, but I'd be ok with the decision.

Originally posted by Bardock42
Well, I think you should prepare your children for it. In general I think exposure to different ideas is not a bad thing, but especially with Religion it can be very intense and frightening, so talking about it is a smart idea.

True but they should know about there own before learning about the others.