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Question 30

Do any atheist parents plan to keep religion away from their children entirely?

• No. I think that as an atheist, keeping religion from children is just as bad as the fundamentalists contorting science to suit their views and hiding the truth. However I would encourage skepticism and open-mindedness in my children and let them decide for themselves like I did. Most likely they will come to the same conclusion I did. (Mike Kulicki #1100)

• A very good question. When my daughter was born, I had no desire to have her indoctrinated by any religious organization. But as she grew, she started asking why we did not go to Church. I then realized that there was a danger that I would be indoctrinating her with my atheist beliefs if I wasn't careful. I wanted her to make up her own mind about religion and, if she chose to be an atheist, the decision would be hers alone.

  My dilemma was resolved when we discovered the Ethical Culture Society in our area. It's not for all atheists, as its format is similar to that used by many religions. However, the Sunday service consists of a lecture which is absolutely nontheistic. We have been members for 11 years and my 14 year old daughter is proud to describe herself as an atheist. We must have been doing something right. (Andy S. #133)

• I don't have children, but if I do one day have them I will try to teach them to have an open mind and question everything. I don't believe that making a concerted effort to keep them away from religion would work as that sort of thing can often backfire. (Gully Foyle #23)

• Absolutely not. Why? Religion is part of our humanity, our culture. A truly educated person needs to understand his/her place in the global society. Since religions are such an integral part of every culture on earth, how can we expect our children to participate in and contribute to a world in which they do not understand. Unlike most atheists who post here, I am not anti-religion. I am anti-ignorance. I don't see religion as the problem with humanity. Religious intolerance is. How many of you would want a President who was trying to moderate the Middle Eastern peace talks and did not understand the significance of the Holy Lands to each of the parties involved? What about the fact that Iraq's invasion of Kuwait was rooted in the Sunni Shia split of Islam centuries ago? It's not enough to study history as a conglomerate of names, dates, and places, but instead our children need to be educated in the world religions and their role in shaping our history. My children certainly are. (Mariea Datiz)

• I'm not yet a parent, but as much as possible, yes. Religion is such a convincing fairy tale that it would be very easy for a child to believe it, at least at an early age. And I think that given how infectious religion can be, one little bit of dogma could spoil my child's entire upbringing. I would shelter my children from religion as much as possible for the first 10 or so years. Only when they were mature enough to understand would I expose them to religions and have a dialogue about religion and it's effects on humanity, is there a god, etc. Because let's face it, religion is a part of society, and they would have to be exposed to it sooner or later. (Travis Cleveland #968)

• I will absolutely not teach them religion. I will talk about it, deal with questions, etc. But will not teach it. It is mythology and will be dealt with as such. How can I make a reasonable distinction that makes any sense between xianity and islam? xianity and greek mythology?

  It's likely, of course, that xianity will come up more often during her childhood, what with catholic grandparents (my parents) and gaggles of xians floating around annoying people. I feel that if I present the information rationally, she will be able to develop the reasoning skills she needs to be able to deal with such silly fantasies on her own as an adult. (Paul J. Koeck #360)

• Absolutely not!

  They are going to learn a great deal about religion - *all* religions, as much as possible. That includes the harm.

  Keeing them away from religion entirely will, IMHO, do a great deal more harm than good. First, it's a bit dishonest - like trying to protect them from learning about Nazism just because you don't want them to become Nazis. That sounds like a really absurd thing to do, doesn't it? Well, fascist ideas are no less appealing to people than religion. The point is to teach them *about* it so that they won't be lulled into accepting it later.

  Second, they will need as much information as possible in order to *keep* from converting to some strange cult when they are older. If they don't understand religion, then how will they keep from falling in with whomever offers a nice story on the street corner when they go to college? (Austin Cline #32)

• Apparently not. They're being brought up in the Unitarian-Universalist Church. Of course, this means that the idea of religious doctrine will be foreign to their personal lives. At the same time, they will learn about many religions, and learn the aspects of religion that are useful for us. In addition, they will be raised in an environment where truth-seeking, questioning, dissent, and so on are respected and encouraged.

  They will never be asked to sacrifice their intellect for some human religious doctrine, and never taught to believe or feel that to pursue rationality and reason is somehow evil or that it can end up causing them to sacrifice their spirituality. They will never be taught that reason is in any way disjunctive with spirituality and the sharing of religious community with others. Indeed, they will be taught that those who pretend to be religious who are intolerant of reason are simply hypocrites to be challenged or ignored.

  Their own personal exploration will be encouraged by my wife and me. (Todd S. Greene #884)

• My children were allowed and actively encouraged to read anything, to study anything, and ask anything about any subject. When the subject about which they inquired was religion, no one type of faith or denomination was singled out as being good or bad. My children, if they so wished, attended religious services with their friends or relatives. However, because I was an atheist, god(s), praying, or religious studies, per se, had no role in our everyday lives.

  Neither one of them became theist, although that option was open to them if they wished. I do not think that exposure to religion or the concept of a deity is in any way dangerous in and of itself. It is the unquestioning acceptance that a certain god exists in spite of evidence to the contrary that I find to be stunting to intellectual growth and inquiry.

  My daughter, her husband and I just had this conversation in regard to my granddaughter. My son-in-law favors an in-depth religious education as sort of an inoculation against fundyism. My daughter is in more of the laissez faire camp in the manner in which she was raised. I think that the difference in attitude stems from the fact that my son-in-law was raised within a fundamentalist family and from first hand observation sees unquestioning belief to be a dangerously dysfunctional attribute. There is no rancor over this question, just concern about their daughter. (Liz Huth #658)

• Nope. I will provide them with any myths they are interested in. I will bring them up to look at these rationaly. I think that would be enough to let the default position of every kid (atheism) survive even in the face of the religious mealstrom in the outside world. Rationality is the best vaccine one can use against the various memetic viruses floating around out there. Plus it has some spreading power of its own. (Nostromo #47)