If I were a parent, I would raise them to choose to believe whatever they want. I would teach them about all the religions.

I did-my kids are 35 and 22, both are not religious.

yes

I gave my daughter a new option as I met her at age 14. She'd grown up with all kinds of religion force upon her and none of those family members stepped in to foster her when she needed placement. I spoke openly about my Catholic upbringing, searching, joining a cult at 19, and getting myself out 2.5 years later after I broke up with Jesus for good. She is very inquisitive re: astral projection and energy, but no gods to speak of.

I raised several, and I told them to expand their minds and to make sure to decide for themselves.

If I had children, I would definitely be raising them as atheists.
Keeping an "open mind" has nothing to do with religion.

child or adult, i will tell them that if there is a god, then that god is a prick, unworthy of respect and highly sadistic. i will inform them of all the pain and suffering on earth and in life, then tell them that any god that allows such things is less than that of the human i'm speaking to.

i am a human. i am superior to any such creator of the universe. i can't say "there is no god" but i can say that god is something i wish to be apart from as much as possible. humanity is more god-like than any deity proposed throughout history. you and me are infinitely more compassionate, careing, creative, destructive, wise and everything else included when defining a deity.

i have created entire universes of beings and instantly erased them. we watch movies to see impossible lives do impossible things and achieve unfathomable goals. if those creations became sentient, they would also call the creator(s) assholes as we should for any proposed creator god in our universe.

raising children should be focused on teaching them about reality. introducing a god doesn't help anything. when people say they raise their kids "atheist" that's untrue. they raise their kids as sensible people and teach them of reality. you can't "teach" non belief. you either do or don't. it relies on nothing but the strength of ones mind to come to either conclusion. however, once a conclusion is made, you must have a good reason for it. that's a rule which governs every aspect of life, and as such, it applies to accepting the existence of any deity out of the thousands that have died, become myths, been forgotten or are currently popular.

i've never tried to breathe underwater, but i am 100% sure that it's impossible. i have plenty of good reasons without a direct experience. the same can be said for a god.

My kids decided for themselves. My only guidance was don't be assholes.

I was once talking to a Christian friend about my grandson being atheist, and he said, "Ya'll don't teach them that do you?" I pointed out that he's a Christian because his parents taught him that. He had no choice but to concede my point!

Mine grew up with rational explanations for natural events and no indoctrination.

I raised my twins to question everything, they believe in fact over fiction

I wasn't hard core about it but my girl needed defense against the indoctrinated brats in school so there was indeed some guidance... I never wanted her to feel like "god" was picking on her so felt I'd no choice but to step in and let her know that the other kids were raised being told that crap and didn't know any better. That just because someone believes in god doesn't mean they're a good person.

A child is not going to believe in a god or be a theist unless that poison is crammed into their brain.

Atheist or in language no deity is the normal state.

When my son was 10 years old, I had read a children's bible, and I asked him what he believed and what he didn't believe. He picked up on 2 things that were impossible:

The Universe, Earth, Man, and all animals were not created the same week.
No Star of Bethlehem could ever lead wise men to a single house.

He's been an atheist ever since.
He's a very bright boy, he had me boxed into a logical corner on Santa Claus when he was only 6 so I had to come clean on that one.

I raised my children to make their own decisions. All three chose to be an atheist.

Nephew, but yeah. Answered his questions when other people were praying candidly when he was 6 (they think that some old guy in the sky is judging all of our actions), to a copy of "The Magic of Reality" given to him on his 7th Christmas that he read when he was 8. Considering his maternal family is Mor(m)on, we've had to forbid him from calling them stupid, idiots, and retards

So long as you don’t indoctronate children, their default position is atheism, whether they know it or not. It wouldn’t be their identity, but their beliefs would align. The only sense in which one should “raise them” to be atheists is just to teach them to question things. If they ask you what you believe, tell them in a way that acknowledges that other people believe other things. As long as you love them no matter what, I wouldn’t stress about it.

I raised him to question everything and everyone.

I’m trying to teach him to think for himself and to question everything

I raised my son to be respectful of the beliefs of others, but I don't think it took. He's a pretty militant atheist right now. I never pushed him one way or the other. Honestly I think finding out Santa Claus wasn't real was traumatic for him. It was like his trust in adults and what he was told went away overnight. Very extreme reaction. Interesting kid. I didn't react like that at all. In fact, I milked it by pretending to believe long after I figured it out (for more gifts, natch!).

As for religion, I don't see how you can be a cultured person in this society without at least having some grounding in the Bible and religious history and philosophy. Doesn't mean you have to believe, but you should at least be educated about it.

No. I raise my daughter to think for herself.

I did rise mine as freethinkers so they can decide for themselves what they want to believe. They are adults now and haven't pick anything yet, they are doing ok as plain freethinkers

Before our sons were born my husband and I decided that we would not raise our children with any religion. We taught them to question everyone and everything, because we wanted them to make a decision as to whether or not they believed. One is now an atheist and the other is an agnostic.

I don't have kids, but I'm for sure raising an atheist dog.

I don't have any children, but my dad taught us to make our own decisions. There was on catch, we had to learn about the religion, the good and the bad aspects and to weigh them equally without blindly believing. This is how I'd raise my children if given the chance.