Jun
I was raised catholic but at this point I am a member of the “I believe
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I belong to the same religion as you do!! Catholic turned I believe there’s something out there!! I selected NOT to baptize my children (much to the dismay of my Grandmother). I am teaching about ALL religions. They’ve been to multiple churches experiencing as many religions as possible. I want them to grow up know that it is ok to have different beliefs and that if when they’re older they want to choose one religion to practice, it is up to them OR they have the ability to choose to practice parts of all religions or they have the ability to choose to not practice any religion as long as they have the respect and understanding of others.
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I don't believe, but my wife and her family do. However, I STOUTLY refuse to have my child baptized and indoctrinated into any religion without his consent/knowledge.
Once he's of age to make the decision for himself, he's got my support 100%, no matter what religion, or lack thereof.
Until then, the family will have to bide their time and respect my son's opportunity to be presented with ALL beliefs before making a decision for himself.
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I'm catholic(not practiced) and my hubby is Baptist(also not practiced) and our daughters are not baptized yet but when they are they will more than likely be baptized catholic. Its kind of the thing of our family. They are what the mother was baptized as.
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You should read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.
http://richarddawkins.net/godDelusion
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I had no relgion growing up and I wish I had but I am christian now going to a non demonational church, my kids attend as well
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I concur with It's Kippah, Kippah the dawg. With my son, hes only one. But I will not force beliefs on him. He is an individual, and has a right to his own beliefs, and will support him any way he chooses. I have my own beliefs, my husband has his. And we both think its wrong to force him to believe what we do. Let your child decide, let her believe what she feels is right. Wait until she is old enough to decide what’s right for her, and what she believes. There is no right or wrong in religion, each individual should have the choice of choosing.
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Your case is exactly my case, almost word for word. So far I haven't mentioned God to my 3 year old daughter. I think later I’ll just show her for cultural purposes there are many religions and aspects of each one (of the most common ones) and let her decide later…
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I have the ability to SO relate to you.
I put my daughters in a Catholic Preschool but I don't think about myself any religion. I think its great for them to learn the stories and prayers and about Jesus but I don't plan on taking them to church.
I want my daughters to learn to be respectful of other's beliefs and be careful not to say anything offensive to others. I think It more important to teach them about taking care of their health, environment and self respect.
If religion comes into their lives it will be their choice and not because I pounded in their brains and that's all they ever knew!
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The problem with the “let them decide when they are adults” approach is that you have not provided them with any information.
We’re raising our dd Roman Catholic.
When she’s an adult I will be comforted in the knowledge that we gave her all the instruction and guidance she needed……..THEN she has the ability to decide if Catholicism or any religion is for her.
The question you need to ask yourself is: Would you grant your children to educate themselves? Imagine handing them school books and telling them “Go learn on your own.” They know the alphabet and counting because YOU taught them….religion is the same.
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Wow, you ask a question stating what you believe as far as religion goes, someone answers you saying “This church believes the same thing you do, maybe you should look into that” and you run them down for it? That's pretty f*cked up right there.
I was going to also recommend unitarian universalism (and I don't belong to the church, I have just studied all religions in an attempt to find one that worked for me - I failed btw), but since you’ve revised your initial statement to state that you don't really believe in God despite what you said earlier, I would say just leave religion out when it comes to your kid. You'll probably just confuse them, since you seem to be quite confused yourself. Leave it to the Social Studies instructor to expose them to a variety of religions and then they have the ability to pick one if they want to.
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I was also raised catholic, but no longer believe in the catholic religion. My husband is the same.
I was also forced into CCD and all that fun stuff, however, I thank my parents for forcing me to go because it made me the person I’m this day. After my confirmation, I chose not to continue with the catholic church.
I’ve no clue what I’ll do with my kids, when I’ve them, but, I do think they need some spiritual guidance, and If CCD would provide them with that, then great, when they become adults in the church they have the ability to choose whether or not to continue with the church or choose their own path.
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Your children are…Better off not having a cert an religion.
teach them the good parts like being kind ,helping others
and that kind of stuff. Leave out the part about wars and killing other people because they don't think like you.
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Oh! I know! You should check out your local Unitarian Universalist church! http://uua.org/
My husband & I were both raised Catholic, both spent a lot of time away from church altogether, then discovered UU together, when pregnant with our son & having the same kind of discussions as you two probably are having about the role of religion in your family right now.
“There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote:
* The inherent worth and dignity of each person;
* Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
* Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
* A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
* The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
* The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
* Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we’re a part.
Unitarian Universalism (UU) draws from many sources:
* Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
* Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
* Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
* Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
* Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.
* Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and teach us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.
These principles and sources of faith are the backbone of our religious community.”
Edit to add: Sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out at all, but from what you stated in reply, I don't think I explained myself very well. UU doesn't have a religious doctrine to it at all. UU does not tell you to believe in a creator or ro concur on any set of spiritual beliefs. That's why we chose UU for our family, for our children.
And, that's why I cut/pasted the UU principles here, so that you could see what it was all about. The principles are very humanist in their foundation. But, they don’t mention God or the bible at all, except as a source (among many others) of wisdom from which you might draw when finding your spiritual path in life.
You were probably anticipating a religious screed, though, so didn't read through them to see what they actually said. There are many atheists at the UU church that we attend, along with agnostics, wiccans, pagans and, even, christians.
The UU religious education classes for children involve learning about all world religions, and being encouraged to find your own path.
I'm really sorry to have freaked you out on this, though, because I think that if you give it a swift read, you'll find it's exactly what you're looking for. I'm not trying to recruit at all - I'm just trying to answer your question.