I was raised as a Christian and only recently became an atheist. It's been just a few months. I agonized over telling my husband. He was initially in denial but, ultimately, there was no major fallout.
Now I am concerned about how to approach the fact that I no longer believe with my older of two sons. I am teaching him, our six year old, about other religions. Our other boy is only one year old. I am not sure when to openly let him know I no longer believe and how to best approach it without saying that it's stupid since Daddy still believes and likely always will. Anyone else here lose their faith after already indoctrinating their child(ren)?
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28 comments (26 - 28)
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Seems to me that everyone has a kind of god, in the sense that we all understand boundaries limiting our actions and words, and we understand certain positive guidelines, such as, love your neighbor as yourself, and maintain a friendly, teamwork, attitude.
If we did not all do this, we would crash our cars into each other, all the time.
The difference between the traditional god of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and the small "g" god of us atheists, is that the religious feel there is a spirit-person, who is similar to a wise human, but better in every way. Whereas, we atheists, or, at least, me, we tend to assemble bits and pieces of wisdom and common sense rules and regulations, and, that is, in effect, our god.
Each of us has a slightly different god, just as each Christian worships a god who is slightly different from the god of any other Christian.
That is clear, because there are so many Christian denominations. Hundreds, at least, maybe thousands. Maybe you can explain that to your son, if you agree that what I wrote here is correct.
Once again, if we failed to follow the same general kind of friendly teamwork attitude, we would crash our cars into each other, all the time.
The difference, once again, between us atheists, and Christians, is that we call it common sense, and they call it doing the will of their god.
I hope that helps you.
bigjac
Level 6
Apr 10, 2020
1
I do not agree at all, and i think this kind of explanation would a kid even older than one year old. I will also note, slightly off topic, that the opposite of atheist is not necessarily christian.
g
Do as you would be done by.
No need to bring any kind of "god" into the frame in order to see that.
"faith" as a noun, lol, yeh. First i would reflect a little, and understand you are not in the default position at all, but rather forgot your first love prolly, which after all, was never religion anyway, right? There is no judgement for beliefs in the Bible, is there?
bbyrd009
Level 7
Apr 11, 2020
0
Do your older two sons believe? Have they told you what's their opinion of atheists in the past?
tsallinia
Level 6
Apr 10, 2020
0
My older son believes. He did not know there were people who don't believe in God until I told him. His initial response was, "They should go to church." He's only six and he has accepted that there are different religions and that we shouldn't criticize people for following any of them or none at all. My great concern has been mainly the thought of him thinking that I, his mother, would go to hell. My younger son is just one year old and likes to dance to the worship music. I imagine he'll be fine since he hasn't been indoctrinated and isn't as sensitive as his brother.
@Colibri that sounds very promising. He is young enough to not have his.cognitive biases instilled in him yet 
I think if you start with the basics, what is truth, what is science, why it's important, watch documentaries about the cosmos, ask him what are the stars, the planets, how they were formed etc and then let him research and become hungry for answers and the truth in a playful way,in the long run he will back you up. I wouldn't try to focus on short-term solutions as to not traumatize him. Does this sound good to you?
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