Tonight Andrea and I talked about one of those hard topics. Religion. More specifically, teaching religion. For some families, it's not even a question, let alone a hard one. You are given a belief structure from your parents in whatever religion they are a part of and then choose to accept or reject it.
For whatever reason, I don't feel I was ever "taught" religion, or in a more broader sense, taught how to figure out my place in the world/universe/whatever you want to call it. My thought is that religion provides answers for people to a lot of those hard to answer questions. Why am I here, what is my purpose, what happens when I die, etc etc. But I honestly don't know if that is the case, not being a part of any religion. Maybe it just gives a framework for finding answers to those questions but still leaves the actual answering up the individual.
But none of that is the point. The point here is I want to arm my daughters with at least some skills that give them a starting point to find those answers for themselves. The question is, what is the best way to go about doing that? Would taking them to a specific religion church do that? Or would trying to expose them to lots of different religions in some way be better? Either option seems tough.
I know the one thing I can't do is lie to them about my own beliefs, and that's maybe the hardest part. Being atheist is a tough proposition in it's own right. Trying to get someone to understand my belief structure, and how it is possible to be atheist and still "care" about things, life, other people, and still strive to be a "good" person, is not easy. On top of that, there are all these studies out there that show religions people tend to be happier or healthier or that church-going kids have better GPAs. Sadly, neither of these are motivators for me but they do at least force me to ask myself, what is best for my girls?
5 comments:
I stumbled upon this while browsing and figured I'd give you a simple answer. Just try it. You have nothing to lose if you find a Church and make a commitment to go for a few services. Take your daughters and see how they like it. I grew up in church, and while I have since chosen to walk a Christian walk, it helped give me a moral upbringing as well as a feeling of being loved always. I hope this helps:)
You have to express more your opinion to attract more readers, because just a video or plain text without any personal approach is not that valuable. But it is just form my point of view
I enjoyed reading your blog post. Thank for you being upfront and honest about your belief structure. I am a Christian, a father of two and I for sure want to provide the best for my children as you do too. Whether churches make you happier, or a better GPA is fine, but we have to ask ourselves is what they teach true? That is what we are really looking for...truth. Wouldn't you agree?
I know that I want to provide my children with a worldview that is rational, moral, and can account for the universe that I see and interact in everyday. I have found the Christian faith to fit such a criteria.
The search for truth can be a difficult one for sure. For most things there is one right answer and many wrong ones. I would expect that the same goes for what happens after we take our last breath.
Hi Shawn,
Brian from Portland Oregon. I like to hit the Next Blog link and ended up here today. I have been an athiest almost my whole life. Spent alot of time on the children's ward, so have questioned the existance od=f a god since then. All through catholic school, altar boy, boys scouts I had to lie when it was time to swear alligence to god. The whole concept to me is 'silly'. Have brought my two boys up pulling no punches when discussing the existence of a god. When #1 son was about 3-4 we flew to the East Coast. As the plane rose above the cloud bank, he turned his little face from the window and said, "See! No angels!" This was probably a response to one of those Family Circle cartoons where the dead Grandpa is looking down from heaven. So my advice is give it to them straight.
Peace & Love, boc
I used to be a devout atheist. However, when all my humanistic arguments became indefensible, I turned to he Bible and God entered my heart.
But the topic here is teaching children religion in the home. I'm a moderate on this point. Parents cannot help but teach their core values at home as it who they are. That said, I also believe children should seek out their own core values and not accept their parent's ones without questioning them. We took our kids to church when they were young, but left it entirely to them when they were old enough to stay at home. For better or worse they have all made their own decisions in life- and I wouldn't ave it any other way.
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