Me and my mates were even in a church choir when we were in primary school. We went up to Carlisle Cathedral and sung at some big event there.Make him go to church every Sunday morning instead of watching cartoons. I guarantee by the time he's a teenager, he'll think "I've had enough of this. It's all bollocks."
Religions hold our species back.I'm very clear with my kids that there is no valid evidence (literally none) for any kind of supernatural being and that all religion is frankly very, very weird, is a human construct and follows no logic. They go to a C of E school so they are exposed to some attempts at indoctrination; I respectfully discuss it with them, or rather just make occasional comments to encourage them to think.
I am clear with them that we are tolerant of all beliefs as long as nobody is being harmed. They have religious friends and that's fine of course.
For me, all religion is just bizarre: billions of people literally believing in fairy stories despite there being zero evidence in favour of them - and failing to see that other groups believe similar (but different) things and not joining the dots that they different groups/beliefs all have exactly the same amount of evidence (none).
It's about time all religion was thrown in the bin and consigned to history. We do ourselves a great disservice in believing in this stuff, and promoting it to kids borders on abuse if you ask me. We are moving in the right direction but nowhere near fast enough.
You mean you don't believe that Lord of the Rings was real??!!billions of people literally believing in fairy stories despite there being zero evidence in favour of them -
It's a pity veggies don't take the same stanceYou just let them be taught about religion (as we were at my school) and make up their own mind. Don't try to influence them one way or the other.
A lot of the times there isn't any other approach tbh. Had my kids in a non denominational school but since we moved back to Kerry it's Catholic schools or get on the motorway.I actually quite like your approach, but sending your kids to a faith school seems an odd choice? I expect it's because it also happens to be the best option in other ways, but it must be a bit weird for kids with atheist parents having to lead a sort of 'double life' as daytime Christians at school. Not really fair on them.
Yeah church weddings are very odd… for a couple who don’t go to church and won’t be going ever again, afterwards.Surely the best ones are those couples who never step foot in a Church but then decide they want to marry in one?
Cue the hypocrisy of both them and the Church saying they must come every week for a set period and show commitment.
I can count on three fingers the amount of time time I have had to step foot inside a Church, usually for some wedding.
They creep me out.
There was this slight bit about the Germanic tribes smashing apart the Roman empire as well and all learning being temporarily lost. Hence the whole 'Latin is a dead language' part.The Dark Ages in Europe was when Christianity was spread and being forced onto populations.
Weddings, Christenings, Funerals.Surely the best ones are those couples who never step foot in a Church but then decide they want to marry in one?
Cue the hypocrisy of both them and the Church saying they must come every week for a set period and show commitment.
I can count on three fingers the amount of time time I have had to step foot inside a Church, usually for some wedding.
They creep me out.
Tbf if they did that I'd probably throw them a few squids for sweets. Make for some good family videos for later years :)It’s not like your kid has decided to join ISIS is chanting ‘death to the infidels!’ every night.
I'm very clear with my kids that there is no valid evidence (literally none) for any kind of supernatural being and that all religion is frankly very, very weird, is a human construct and follows no logic.
Me and my wife are both atheist but she has decided she wants to get our lad christened, find it a bit weird and a total waste of time but a sunday afternoon in the pub I wont argue too much.
Whoosh. You write some brilliant posts but I confess some go right over my head lol.That's great but I don't think that you have gone far enough here.
What you then need to point out is that there is no good reason to believe that the sun will come up tomorrow, as what is true of the past is not necessarily true of the future.
We're not far away from Christmas, so perhaps an example will serve as an illustration of what I am attempting to convey here. Think of a turkey who is greeted every morning with a bucket of grain from a friendly farmer. When this happens repetitively, the turkey would probably conclude that things are going to carry on that way.
Until the morning of the 24th December.
After that, see if you can find a pool or snooker table and then play a frame of it with them (remember that they should keep their head down and gently follow through a little when playing a shot).
Then ask them to show you the actual power, force or whatever it is that causes the second ball to move on impact whenever a shot is played. I think you may find that they are unable to do so.
Staying with the Christmas theme that I have introduced, you could then invite them to say what they would like as a present. At the same time, inform them that you will be perfectly happy to buy them anything that they want, absolutely anything, no matter how expensive it is, provided that beforehand they do a bit of introspection in order to locate the precise whereabouts of the 'I' which wants the present.
You should find that they will fail with this one too.
Of course, I am being mischievous.
But if, when they were older, they opted to do an A Level in Religious Studies, they would encounter all these ideas, as they almost always feature on the syllabus. And that's because sixth-formers have to study David Hume (on miracles, the existence of God, induction, causation*, and the nature of the self**).
Hume isn't radical or sceptical enough for Buddhists, though. So if they were studying that faith and Hume (which some actually do) you would eventually have to grips with the paradoxical nature of truth, maybe by studying the idea of the four-cornered negation in Nagarjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā ('S is neither P, nor not-P, not both P and not-P, nor neither P nor not-P) or attempting to solve some koans. A good one to start with might be, “What is your original face, the face you had before you were born?”
* ‘Our idea, therefore, of necessity and causation arises entirely from the uniformity observable in the operations of nature, where similar objects are constantly conjoined together, and the mind is determined by custom to infer the one from the appearance of the other…. Beyond the constant conjunction of similar objects, and the consequent inference from one to the other, we have no notion of any necessity or connexion.'
** ''For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe anything but the perception.'
Is it a faith school?So my 5 year old at school is starting to be taught religion and specifically Christianity. So with this it obviously raises questions for me - an atheist - the sort of response I should provide. He is asking to pray before bed and wants to visit church etc, which obviously I can't object to but equally am fairly uncomfortable with.
An emphasis on critical thinking though is also important. If you raise your children to be skeptical as a general rule, it shouldn't be necessary to go out of your way to have them treat religious claims skeptically. They should end up doing that on their own anyway. Skepticism and critical thinking are attitudes which should be cultivated across a broad range of topics, but again age comes in to this.
So, for parents who are not religious how do you broach the subject? Do you say you don't believe or just go along with it until your child comes to a certain age where he can more form his own opinions?
Most probably. Everything is these daysIs this for Instagram?
I am not religious at all, I dont get how people can lead their life by a book written over 2000 years ago.