I don’t have children, but this issue is still very important to me because I care about kids being indoctrinated and screwed up by their parents and role models.
But as an atheist, freethinker, or skeptic, what do you teach kids about religion? Maybe because I’m removed from the issue it seems rather easy to me. Teach them the same thing about christianity, islam, judaism and all the other active religions that I was taught about Greek Mythology.
I think religion plays such a huge role in the world today, you can’t ignore it. But you don’t have to believe it to share it with young people any more than my teachers believed Zeus threw lightning bolts at people when he was mad at them. I don’t feel religion is helpful in any respect except as a cultural phenomenon. The big three certainly don’t have good moral values. So don’t try to raise an atheist. Try to raise a child to make their own decisions given all the information.
Kids need to learn two things, above all else. They need to learn critical thinking, how to think for themselves. And they need to understand basic morals and ethics. The school system doesn’t teach either of these things. And really, it’s more of an issue that parents should want to handle themselves.
Here’s the thing, though. If you are a parent you might never have been taught critical thinking. So guess what? You need to learn it too! I only learned to think critically a few years ago, so even old dogs can learn to think for themselves. It takes practice and diligence, but it isn’t an insurmountable task.
I’ll share what I know in a future post. In the meantime, read what Michael Shermer has to say about skepticism, which is closely related to critical thinking.
Go ahead and teach it in the same manner you would any other mythology. I never took the Greek and Roman myths seriously because they were taught to me as fiction–as tales people used to take seriously but not any more. If I’d been taught about Yahweh in the same manner I would never have taken him seriously.
If kids are left ignorant of religion they’re potentially easy prey for proselytizing when they’re adults. They might think they were denied some special secret thing and be prone to fall for the shtick. If they’re inoculated to it early on by being taught it’s all mythology it’s far less likely they’ll take the bait.
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Neece Reply:
October 18th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Exactly, Buffy. I agree completely.
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I’ve had a bunch of discussions with my daughter (who is now eight) about religion and belief. She went to a pre-school at a church and has been to two “music camp” events with her friend (pretty much church camp with huge emphasis on music and performing a play). She didn’t pick up much at either of those except for vague “God” and “Jesus” concepts.
She knows that I don’t believe in a god, but I’ve also made it very clear that lots of people believe different things. I’ve given her my reasons and she’s seemed to understand. She’s also grasped the concept of evolution thanks to the giant evolution timeline from Charlie’s Playhouse (roxxor!).
So I have no qualms about teaching her ABOUT religion… Jesus story, Noah, creation story, etc… but I’m not teaching her to believe it. She’s pretty bright and we work on asking questions to find out (good Santa discussion a few weeks ago).
The other day, she and my wife were shopping and she says (out of the blue), “Mommy, do you believe in God?”
My wife (surprised, obviously), said, “Why do you ask?”
Daughter says, “Well, Daddy doesn’t believe in God.”
Wife says, “What do YOU think?”
Daughter responds, “I’m too young to really know yet.”
When my wife told me that story, I was beyond proud of my daughter and took that as pretty good evidence that she’s going to be really good at thinking for herself.
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Neece Reply:
October 18th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
That is an awesome story, Dan. You and your wife are raising a true critical thinker! Awesome!
And you said it perfectly. It’s good to teach your kids ABOUT religion. But not to teach her to believe it.
Woot!
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Religious indoctrination is pure child abuse and there should be laws to protect children from it. Just because a child has the misfortune to be born of superstitious imbeciles is no excuse for those dimwits to inflict that nonsense on a child. Leave the children alone to be children while they are young and innocent. They will have sense enough later in life to choose for themselves. It is an ego thing with families left over from the days of the savage OT when children were to be taken to the edge of the city and stoned to death for not blindly following parents beliefs. Once again, what a god!
If any of you have been following the poor muslim girl who escaped her family and is now in Florida for fear they will kill her for changing her religion, you will see this shit still goes on. She didn’t ask to be born to a set of idiots.
The christians can no longer flog, torture and burn people at the stake or murder their kids but they can be emotionally cruel beyond words. ALL religions are evil to the core.
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Neece Reply:
October 18th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Hi Rebzzz, while I agree that indoctrination of any kind is child abuse, it certainly isn’t an easy thing to have laws to enforce.
The other side of that issue is how much do we regulate by law with parenting, morality and private life?
But I do agree with you, it’s abusive to brainwash kids with fear and guilt.
I also agree religions are pretty damned evil and backwards. What little good there is in them is just the good that is in the people involved in them that would be there with or without the religion. Whereas the evil is perpetuated by the religious indoctrination.
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When my daughter was 4 years old, her father was terminally ill with cancer. At her preschool Easter egg hunt, one of the moms took it upon herself to “remind” the tots of the “real reason” for Easter. She asked her son to explain it to the rest of the kids, and he said it was when “Jesus came back from the dead” I just could not help myself, I blurted out “Yes, that is what SOME people believe, but other people do not think that happened” I later explained to the mom that the last thing I wanted was for my child to think people could come back from the dead, and reminded her that we were not in church. She never spoke to me or made eye contact with me again. LOL! It would have been just wonderful to wrap everything up in a pretty little lie for my daughter, and tell her the whole heaven fantasy. I did not “go there” and did not let well-meaning relatives BS her either. Sometimes the truth hurts, but I will take truth over lies any day. Kids are trusting of adults and I think it is imperative to encourage them to use their brains and to get some proof before believing what they are told, especially preposterous things.
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Neece Reply:
October 18th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Yes, Jenny. Sometimes the truth hurts. But lies only postpone the hurt or make it worse when they are shown to be false.
I agree, give me the truth every time over lies and fantasy.
And critical thinking is so crucial to teach to children. But no one values it in society. So kids believe what adults tell them. All those hurtful lies and myths that make parenting easier but screw up the poor kids for their whole lives, sometimes.
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Jenny, I can relate to what you wrote. The death of my mother when I was 13 is the reason I first began reading the OT to assure myself the bible was true and I would see her again. Needless to say I didn’t have to read very far to be terrified by what I found. Even at 13 I knew something was very wrong and no good god could commit such heinous acts against his own creation. Only a demon could do the things he commanded his followers to do. If there ever was a true SOB it was moses, followed a close second by joshua. I live in the south so I am surrounded by goons and brainwashed fools. Walking away from all religious ties was the best thing I ever did. Easter is another pagan holiday the perverted christians took along with may day and christmas. Santa is an anagram for satan but greed rules this world and christians are among the greediest ghouls on the planet and they worship santa more than the god they profess to love.
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Neece Reply:
October 18th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Hi Rebzzz. Yes, the old testament god is pretty heinous, isn’t he?
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Now we know why satan hardly made an appearance in the OT. With Yahweh on the scene there was no need for a devil. Actually, truth be known, they are one and the same.
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Neece, since the beginning of time children have not had a voice in choosing beliefs, they were marked for one or the other before they came into this world. Whatever their parents and culture dictated was theirs. We have no right to condemn any religion for passing on to their children what they dictate for this nation does the same damn thing. It is true that in most countries children cannot be killed for turning against the religion of the parents but there is hell to pay in the emotional realm for those that choose to think. Shunning has replaced killing and it is a painful experience. There is nothing crueler than religion and the sooner people wake up and face the truth about ALL religions, we will continue to fight a losing battle and the powers that be will have a much easier task of herding us all into concentration camps.
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Neece Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Well, Rebzz, while I agree that children have always been at the mercy of their parents’ beliefs, that doesn’t make it healthy. I also agree that being shunned or ridiculed by someone who is supposed to love you is pretty horrible.
I do wonder how you ended up at concentration camps. That seems like a bit of a non sequitur?
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