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Teaching young children to be free thinkers

I want my grandkids ages 6 and 10 to be exposed to the concept of religion and it's false beliefs. What are good books for children that promote free thinking and questioning religion ?

klm50 3 Mar 11
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1

My kids are 8 & 10. I have plenty of bibles they can read whenever they want. They call them ‘adult bibles’ because the children’s bibles or storybooks often leave out the more depraved bits of the Bible. My 10-yr-old has read Disbelief 101, which is written specifically for kids as they find themselves surrounded by religious people at school, etc. I would search on amazon for secular kids books. Fortunately there are more popping up all the time.

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Let them read age appropriate bible stories without giving them apologetic excuses for its horrors or fairytales.

JimG Level 8 Mar 25, 2018
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Even the “great” apostle Paul said in The Bible, “question everything”. Most Christians overlook that one little statement.

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[infiniteunknown.net]

You will dig this one, here it is, in all it's entirety. Might be a little old but I think not. Most kids love this stuff. We read aloud each night and my "kids" are in their late 30's.

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The LION KING - circle of life!
Great Books: "Just Pretend: A Freethought Book for Children", " Maybe Right, Maybe Wrong: A Guide for Young Thinkers", "Maybe Yes,Maybe No" , "Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story". "Older Than the Stars", "Star Stuff"

I have bought many ad my kids and grandkids have them.

Thanks for the list. I want to buy some books so they are always around the house to be referred to when questions come up.

2

I don't recall any specific strategies or reading materials used in the development of our free thinker; I think it must have happened through osmosis. 😉

He's attended Ethical Society from an early age, though inclusion and tolerance are core tennants there, and any outright rejection of faith or superstition (any confrontation at all, actually) is generally avoided. Still, he's always been... opinionated, and is not afraid to challenge "tolerance" rhetoric that denies or downplays the harm caused by any dogma, regardless of the setting. Which has lead to some... interesting interactions. Like the time his youth group visited a mosque, for instance.

He did ask once what his mom and I "were", belief-wise. That's when the words "secular humanist" were added to his vocabulary.

Point being, I think this is something that happens through discussions, explaining current events, questions & answers... all the stuff we do to put media-- and the world-- in context.

I took my kids to Ethical Society also. I would take grandkids but their sports schedules get in the way.

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Natural history for a start. thats what convinced me.

4

Yes tell them to question everything then they will learn..

2

You can do much more than a few books can. Teach the ch9ildren to ask questions, ot try to puzzle out understandings, to think for themselves. Take them into many new sitations and show them how to observe asnd think about what they have seen.

yes, I always ask them what they think about how things work or what they think a word means. Ot starts a good habit.

5

We watch a lot of Scooby Doo and science channels for kids. I know it sounds silly but the fact that the ghost,ghouls and goblins all turn out to be people trying to pull a fast one is a good lesson. Hope it sinks in. Otherwise I expose them to as much science content and try to give them accurate answers for their questions or better yet show them how to figure it out themselves.

How clever! I never would've thought to watch Scooby Doo with that in mind. 🙂

@kmdskit3 it's what my mom did,lol

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