How would "freethinkers" deal with children who turn religious?

WillNever said:
Most teenagers don't do drugs already. A large percentage of them don't drink either, and probably contain most of the ones who don't have sex until college or even later.
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..and then you woke up. 18 is technically a teenager, and if we check the poll for 18 year olds who never did drugs,drinks or sex, you would get less than 50%, thus MOST is incorrect....

"74.3 %
The percentage of high school students nationwide who have had one or more drinks of alcohol during their lifetime."
 
S.A.M. said:
Any thoughts?
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If they grow up to have no care or respect for critical thinking in spite of the fact that you raised them around such principles, then you have a dumb kid.

I remember an atheist on YouTube proudly displaying tolerance of his teenage daughters christianity, when it was clear to all that his daughter was incredibly stupid.
 
Hapsburg said:
One should always let one's child find their own path, and respect their right to freedom of conscience. Anything less is immature.
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but when a kid is crying for sustanance; what are we supposed to do?


can you assist with that?

eg.............. ' Mommy 'what is life?'

"i don't wanna breath; why do i have too?"
 
Give accurate answers that are true regardless of religious beliefs, then.
"What is life?" "not being dead."
"Why do I have to breathe?" "your cells require oxygen to function."
If they ask questions that involve religious beliefs, explain that you'll talk about when they're older. Or explain your position, but make it clear that they can have their own opinion, too.

Simple, no?
 
Hapsburg said:
Give accurate answers that are true regardless of religious beliefs, then.
"What is life?" "not being dead."
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what is "not being dead", when i read that life evolves and continues to live throughout the earth? Is that life dead, or did it evolve and is still alive?

"Why do I have to breathe?" "your cells require oxygen to function."
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does that have to do with metabolisms; dad?

how can chemical reactions be random processes if the required elements for a metabolism are so specific, pops?

If they ask questions that involve religious beliefs, explain that you'll talk about when they're older. Or explain your position, but make it clear that they can have their own opinion, too.

Simple, no?
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i guess when people talk about walking on water or rising from the dead, i could see putting them off

but from what i understand, if them questions on 'life' were taught in school, then who would need a religion?
 
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SAM said:
"Teaching" your children (about) humanism can be a fool's errand, plagued by some the same pitfalls involved in raising children "in" a particular faith tradition. Richard Dawkins has provocatively argued that indoctrinating children with religion is a form of child abuse. But couldn't secularism, as Jeremy Stangroom recently wondered, constitute its own form of indoctrination? Might the attempt to impart one worldview or another to one's children - whether religious or secular - itself be ill-conceived?

http://newhumanist.org.uk/2087
”


Any thoughts?
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It's always been common among freethinkers to have at least formally or nominally religious children - if you are curious about how the situation is dealt with in real life you can easily find examples in biographies of the accomplished or famous, or among your own acquaintances if you live in a Western liberal country.

There is no significant contingent of homeless religious teenagers alienated from their family, even wandering the streets, disowned by their parents for being caught praying or wearing a yarmulke or the like. Contrast with the existence of exactly such a demographic of children who have crossed their parents's religious beliefs - even in some relatively minor detail, such as the particular formalism of worship of an essentially indistinguishable co-Deity.
 
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I'm raising my child to worship the deities of old. Definitely mixing in my own slosh of Hindu/Buddhism as seen through the eyes of Walt Disney animation :)

ON a serious note, I know secular parents with religious kids. They usually don't talk about religion at home.
 
I would just laugh at them for choosing to believe something irrational, then let the subject drop.

But I probably won't have kids, so, not even an issue.
 
You do the best you can to instill your world view into your children but eventually they will have to take responsibility for themselves. If a parent is really a 'free thinker' they would accept that their children have made a decision; you wouldn't have to agree with them but you would have to accept it.
 
S.A.M. said:
Any thoughts?
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From your link:

"Daddy, why did Jesus invent butterflies if they die after two weeks?"

I just about hit the panic button when my six-year-old son Theo put this question to me not long ago. His mother, who is a Christian, had taught him that Jesus was God."

It appears these kids were indoctrinated. The children didn't "turn" religious but were brought up with it.
 
(Q) said:
From your link:

"Daddy, why did Jesus invent butterflies if they die after two weeks?"

I just about hit the panic button when my six-year-old son Theo put this question to me not long ago. His mother, who is a Christian, had taught him that Jesus was God."

It appears these kids were indoctrinated. The children didn't "turn" religious but were brought up with it.
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You mate with Christians? How absolutely ironic! :D

Well what do you expect? If the mother is christian the child is bound to pick up on some of these beliefs.
 
If the freethinking parents are idiots then their children might see that and conclude that religion might be worth consideration.

Im my case I have 3 daughters all in their mid 20s now. Religion was never discussed in any great depth and they were never exposed to any significant religious influences. They simply grew up without religion. What are their attitudes now? Life is fine without religion, it just isn't an issue. In May my eldest (27) was married in Golden Gate Park, very formal, (e.g. I had to wear a Tux), but it was a very beautiful non-religious service, with vows said and exchanged, etc.

Now will they ever turn to religion at some point in their lives? I have no idea. If they do then fine, let them explore it. I have learnt so many tiems that trying to teach children that some things don't work so don't do it, just doesn't work very well. It is only now that when they try things that don't work I have the pleasure of them telling me, "I remember what you said". Haha, people on the whole need to experience for themselves to discover what works and does not.
 
One becoming religious does not mean that one isn't a critical thinker. The key is whether or not they are raised to accept the religion, or whether or not they turn to it by choice, examine it, think critically about it, and then decide whether or not it has truth. The key difference would be that a critical thinker, a freethinker, that became religious would be able to acknowledge their beliefs as beliefs, and acknowledge and understand the possibility that they might be wrong and ultimately don't know; essentially, they'd be agnostic theists.
 
(Q) said:
From your link:

"Daddy, why did Jesus invent butterflies if they die after two weeks?"

I just about hit the panic button when my six-year-old son Theo put this question to me not long ago. His mother, who is a Christian, had taught him that Jesus was God."

It appears these kids were indoctrinated. The children didn't "turn" religious but were brought up with it.
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Which ideology have you adopted without being exposed to it?
 
I raised my son, who's now 17 years of age, to think critically of everything that he is told, even by me, and to question if he needs to.
If one treats the question with appropriate concern and the asker with respect then you will rarely encounter insolence or disrespect in return.
It's not that difficult to instil in a young mind the benefits of mutual respect and the rewards that flow therefrom.

OriginalBiggles, Prime
 
(Q) said:
From your link:

"Daddy, why did Jesus invent butterflies if they die after two weeks?"

I just about hit the panic button when my six-year-old son Theo put this question to me not long ago. His mother, who is a Christian, had taught him that Jesus was God."

It appears these kids were indoctrinated. The children didn't "turn" religious but were brought up with it.
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Hello everyone...

We never talk about religion or god at home but once in a blue moon situation forces me to tell them that there is no proof that god exists. It was one of those days and my seven year old turned to me:

"But I believe in god, he was born and died for us"

This came to me as a shocker because the mother is an agnostic also. It turned out that one of her friends is from a deeply religious family and she constantly babbles about Jesus etc. during playdates.

So this is what you get from trying not to indoctrinate. And also it shows that Christian proselytizing starts at a young age.
 
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