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Would you raise your children religious just to fit in?

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406 comments (26 - 50)

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MO! NEVER! My children were raised to be independent individuals not part of the herd.

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No! England is pretty godless they'd fit in fine.

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I wouldn't, and I didn't.

Deb57 Level 8 June 4, 2018
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No. I encouraged mine to experience religion to develop his own idea of belief. His conclusion: try to live by the Golden Rule. He never goes to church but he does meditate and bows his head in thanks before he eats - not to thank God, but to show gratitude to the universe for providing.

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You raise livestock. You rear offspring. All of my sons are freethinkers.

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No, both of my children are devout atheists and have not patience for religion. I realized at one point that I had to educate them on religious thought so that they could understand where so many people are coming from. On a side note, I was called from my oldest sons preschool teacher because the other childrens' parents were upset that my son was telling the truth about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny! I will not lie about religion or idols!

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That would be like being an intellectual lemming. Only imbeciles conform to stupidity for the sake of conformity.

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I would never teach children to believe something that i thought was untrue. i think that is immoral. if they need to know about religion because you are in a religious community, then let them learn about it but at the same time give them the arguments against it and teach them to think logically and always look for evidence.

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No. I did not . They are fine.

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Absolutely not! I'd try to instill in them critical thinking, and hopefully they'd make a decision that is right for them.

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I raised my children to make their own choices, a right I never had.

2

I raised three kids without religion. They are far more comfortable talking about their lack of faith than I could ever afford to be. I must add that one of them decided to be Catholic. Ironically she was my wild child. As adults they have excellent morals and I'm very proud of how they treat people.

2

No. I if I had my way I would wait to teach anything until my children had reached the age of reason and let them decide for themselves. I mean, I would like for them to believe the same but they are their own people, they have their own individuality and I would never take that from them. Sadly, my family has already indoctrinated them into Christianity. I don't hate my family for that, I absolutely don't think less of my children for buying into it. They're kids.

They will come to their own conclusions and make their own decisions as they grow. I just might introduce them to some Christopher Hitches in the mean time though.

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No way. I educate my children about religion, and allow them the latitude to explore spirituality. My kids are all over the place, with ideas of reincarnation that span traditional forms to alternative or parallel universes. Other days, they don’t believe in reincarnation at all. I am honest with them about my lack of belief and know that if I am militant about my atheism, I increase the likelihood they will be pushed in the opposite direction. As they grow older, they will come to their own conclusions, as I did. In the meantime, all I can do is educate them about why there is no evidence at this time to support theism and when they do come up with supernatural explanations for things, we have an honest and open discussion about it and often, they will forget about it as fast as hey fabricated it.

I tell my kids not to discuss religion in school. My youngest boy’s classmates all think he is Jewish because he told them he wasn’t Christian when they asked (Judaism is he ONLY possibility if you aren’t Christian, dontchaknow.) We attend a secular church with no specific doctrine, and they learn about different religions and philosophies. I hope they will be better educated for it.

2

Nope. I refused to indoctrinate my 3 children. I left it up to them to decide. My oldest is agnostic, while my two younger ones are atheist. My sisters are the only family that understands. The rest of my family knows, but they don't talk to me much anymore.
To be honest, that's perfectly fine by me. They don't pay my bills, they don't house/feed my children, and they don't have a say so.
I guess I'm a bit outward in my dismissal of their beliefs. An aunt scoffed at me when she thanked God for my uncle's surgery going well... I simply thanked the doctor.

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I almost did! I grew up going to church but never feeling comfortable when I was there. When I got married we didn’t go to church because of work schedules. When we decided to have kids I swore that I was going to raise them in the church. I wanted them to have the best chance and I thought church was the answer. However again the work schedules hindered things and the years went by and we never went. I now realize that things worked out perfectly. I have 2 grown sons who are non believers and am very thankful I didn’t subject them to the church.

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Absolutely not. My children were raised with information on all religions and knew that I was an atheist and they were allowed to make their own choices. None of them chose religion.

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Absolutely not. I am of the opinion that teaching religion is more harmful than beneficial.

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Absolutely not fitting in is no reason for ignorance

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My children are grown but no, I would never teach my children to believe in a fairy tale. I would talk to them about how some people believe and I would explain why I don't believe that way. I would also teach them rational and logical thinking so that they have the tools they need to figure out for themselves what is real and provable and what isn't.

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No, I would raise children to think for themselves and use critical thinking for everything.

2

I raised my children with as much knowledge as possible and allow them to decide for themselves, but they are fully aware of my feelings on the subject.

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