Shit, we were allowed to have booze once a week when I was at Catholic school.
Blerch. I try, but his mom has the better end of the argument why kiddo should start going to the pre-school that one of his day care buddies goes to.
The ‘about us’ page of their website, first thing it says is it’s a Christian environment. And it’s in a Catholic church.
I guess I’ll look at the bright side, and know that he’ll at least understand the literary references later in life.
What I mean is that we won’t be taking her to church–particularly to Sunday school–nor allowing her busy-body aunts to do so stealthily. We won’t try to pretend there’s no such thing as church, and if she’s invited to go with a friend when she is, say, 6, the answer will be, “But BabyMinerva, don’t you remember? We’re going to the fair/zoo/baseball game/gladiatorial arena that morning, and then out for ice cream afterwards!”
There’s not religious education in public schools here. I think. And if we send her to private school, it won’t be a sectarian one.
RushgeekGirl was referring to a Memphis school, where there’s a good amount of… ardor … in the schools. A lot of fire & brimstone and other such lies. She may well have mentioned that specifically because she knows where I live and where I used to go to church. (Though I wouldn’t oppose my daughter going to that church occasionally.)
Only Communists and Welshmen decry cheesecake. Says so in the Bible.
I went to a Catholic high school, even though I was a strong agnostic at the time on my journey to atheism. It was probably good for me, those Jesuits helped keep me in line and made me turn in my homework.
I never had to take any courses on Catholicism or Christianity specifically, there were alternatives such as World Religion, Morality, and others I can’t recall. It was interesting.
Ahh, this make sense. I’m (of) Welsh (descent) and can’t stand the stuff.
It’s not the cheesecake that I dislike - I love cheesecake. It’s the chocolate I don’t want.
So what you’re saying here is that you too are a commie.
The amount of religious education they might get varies widely from school to school. Check out the curriculum first if you have any doubts.
What about weddings?
That is interesting. My mom did the same with us growing up, she being raised Methodist but not religious and not taking my brother and I to church past age 6. My brother still at age 28 does not go to church, and I , age 30, have been LDS since age 18.
My atheist parents taking me to church was a very effective way of keeping me from becoming religious. It was boring. The pews were uncomfortable. What was being said was clearly fiction, and often nasty.
I distinctly remember having to repeat “through my most grievous fault”, and my papa saying afterwards how I should take no notice, religion is just nasty that way but most of the people are still very nice.
I remember starting to realise that some real adults actually believe all that crazy stuff. That was a pretty good lesson in not thinking because someone is an adult they are intelligent or that you should listen to what they say. I remember so well being struck by the double-think of people hearing stories of the OT and still saying the religion is about love. At home I was taught about love, and it was distinctly different from what the various churches seemed to think love was.
All in all it was very educational. And of course, like most atheists, I came away knowing a good deal more about the bible than most Christians do.
However, maybe my experience was easier because I grew up in the Netherlands, which is a very secular society. The children I worked with always came with religion pre-installed. We talked a lot about why I didn’t pray and we talked a lot about science, evolution etc. I don’t think any of them became atheists. We didn’t attend church with them, but we answered any questions.
I would do what my parents did: take kids to see what church is like. If they learn about what love really is like at home, and they are taught to think independently, then church can only be a turn-off.
Just skimmed the thread so my thoughts may have been covered.
I’m a faint Christian Presbyterian meaning I don’t accept the Virgin birth and Resurrection as fact but I do accept the “love thy neighbour” ethos taught by Jesus.
So I took my children to church irregularly and they were welcomed. It was a positive experience. My wife is Jewish but knows little about the religion so that remains open for the future.
Although there is humanism, IMHO Christianity provides a decent moral code within a frame and network of people whom my children can understand in later years. There is no weekly gathering of kind humanists with interesting historical stories to tell.
Aside from that I believed my children should understand the deep influences religions have played in civilisation over the past 4000 years. How otherwise could I explain St Peters in Rome, Westminster Cathedral, or Stone Henge. Astonishing structures which are not houses, not palaces, not seats of government, but instead places where people came together for spiritual reasons.
As teenagers none of them are religious and may never be but their lives have been broadened and enriched. My oldest daughter has several friends who are active Christians and she does not shun them.
Why would this make an agnostic/athiest feel any better? “God is LOVE!” is dangerous bullshit too. It’s how churches get people in the door. Hellfire and brimstone make them afraid to walk out. Both are forms of mind control.
Would you let your child go to an afterschool program where they are taught about the virtues of Allah? Or they were encouraged to build a shrine to Shiva, because Shiva lurves you sooooo much? No, because you would know how dangerous it would be to let your kid go down this garden path.
The only church-sponsored daycare program that I would let my non-existent children attend would be those run by Quakers or the Unitarian Universalists. They are just about as secular as you can get and I woudn’t have to worry about them coming home with their minds filled with garbage.
No, it’s worse.
If my kid is told on the playground that he’s going to burn in hell and he cries to the teacher, I’d like to know that the teacher will tell him there’s no way he’s going to burn in hell since hell doesn’t exist. But in a religious program, the teacher may very well give the bully a golden star for telling the “truth”.
The point is that they aren’t coming from a rational position on the subject. A rational person knows that a little bit of alcohol is not necessarily bad, and that yelling is not abuse. Just like a rational person knows that religion is not some uberevil thing.
And that was freaking obvious.
No, I wouldn’t. I have respect for atheists who come from that viewpoint either via reasoning, doubt, or just lack of exposure. I do not have respect for atheists (or theists) who are that way because they were hurt by a specific religion. It’s an overreaction that tends to make you just as “religious” and closed minded as you were before.
I mean, I feel sorry for said people, and I’ll treat them well, but I don’t respect their decision. In my mind, they need to deal with the hurt, forgive, and then make a rational decision with actual reasons behind it other than just “religious people suck.”
I furthermore do not respect any atheist who shields their child from religion IF they criticize religious parents for doing the same thing. Note that IF: if you recognize that a parent’s job is to teach their child what they believe to be the truth, I’m fine with whatever you do. Either you believe children should be able to make up their own minds or you don’t.