As an Atheist, what do you tell your little kids?

[Anonymous]

All religions are indoctrination
All religions are producers of child sbusers and protect them as well Catholics thank you for still being ok with the church protecting them next up megachurches wow

Tell your kids not to talk to strangers and you bring them to Santa’s lap

[Anonymous]

That people die and their bodies decompose or are incinerated. Hopefully people have memories of them or it’s like they didn’t exist. The end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All religions are indoctrination
All religions are producers of child sbusers and protect them as well Catholics thank you for still being ok with the church protecting them next up megachurches wow

Tell your kids not to talk to strangers and you bring them to Santa’s lap

I like to think of myself as agnostic and that life is about dealing with the discomfort of not knowing. And I try to teach my child that science is what we know but that there are limits to our knowledge and we can be respectful of other people’s beliefs. But having been raised in organized religion, what the PP says is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an atheist, one of my strongest convictions to my children is NOT lying to them about magic sky daddy or having them believe fake things to comfort them. Obviously ymmv, but that was one thing I hated about religion and one thing I was determined not to do to my kids. So I don't really get the point.

+1 I never felt the need to talk to them about the comfort of a higher power. To me, loved ones are the comfort. If they got invited to church, and wanted to go I always let them. I wanted them to figure it out themselves. I believe in reincarnation and DH is more agnostic, and both kids, now college-aged are more or less atheists, who believe differently than DH and me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't imagine ever respecting anyone who lies to me about life after death. Why should I believe anything you ever say, if you just say (or worse believe!) whatever you think will temporarily placate me instead of the truth?

Of course, no one really knows “the truth” about divine things, life after death or the other matters typically considered the subject of religion. People have beliefs. Not all beliefs agree. People disbelieve. They disagree with each other. There are all sorts of things nobody understands.

It's a lie to pretend to a child that it's truth instead of saying it's your personal dream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't imagine ever respecting anyone who lies to me about life after death. Why should I believe anything you ever say, if you just say (or worse believe!) whatever you think will temporarily placate me instead of the truth?

Of course, no one really knows “the truth” about divine things, life after death or the other matters typically considered the subject of religion. People have beliefs. Not all beliefs agree. People disbelieve. They disagree with each other. There are all sorts of things nobody understands.

It's a lie to pretend to a child that it's truth instead of saying it's your personal dream.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an atheist, one of my strongest convictions to my children is NOT lying to them about magic sky daddy or having them believe fake things to comfort them. Obviously ymmv, but that was one thing I hated about religion and one thing I was determined not to do to my kids. So I don't really get the point.

I mean, that’s what I think for kids once they’re older. But for me, I think (and maybe that’s a me problem) my kids would feel better thinking there’s something else out there…just while they’re really young. Since Christmas just passed, I keep thinking of this like Santa…

My kid is a 3rd generation atheist. As their parent, I will report: I think this is indeed a you problem, maybe caused by you having been raised in a religious tradition that emphasizes the existence of this kind of “out there” presence.

Our kid is rightly reassured by the knowledge of who and what reliable helpers are (including systems that protect us—the remarkable engineering in our car, for example, a wholly human creation—and people who are outside our home and who we may not even know—a firefighter, a doctor in the ER).

“Something else out there” would deeply unnerve my kid (who is a couple of years older than yours) because it would be evidence that we are selling a promise of help or support that is not founded in tangible reality.

[Anonymous]

Op here to report back. I spoke with my husband about this again last night and I think, as some of you noted, I may be leaning more towards agnostic than atheist. My plan is to drop the whole higher power idea of anything watching over them (I agree that this is ridiculous and very well may creep them out). As far as when we die, I’m going to tell them that our body shuts down and we don’t know what or if anything happens after. But I’ll also let them know that I suspect it’s like falling into a dreamless sleep. Other than what came before the Big Bang and what happens when we die, I think those are the only two things that make me agnostic, but I could be wrong. I consider myself atheist as far as any religions go and superhuman powers.

[Anonymous]

I tell them the truth. That life is precious, that we're here for relatively little time, and that we need to make the best of the time we have. When someone dies, they live on in our memories, but I don't believe in any sort of afterlife.

I also tell them that that's what I believe -- that they need to grapple with these questions and decide what they believe. We have books about different religions, and they are free to explore their own beliefs. I'm not here to force my beliefs on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tell them the truth. That life is precious, that we're here for relatively little time, and that we need to make the best of the time we have. When someone dies, they live on in our memories, but I don't believe in any sort of afterlife.

I also tell them that that's what I believe -- that they need to grapple with these questions and decide what they believe. We have books about different religions, and they are free to explore their own beliefs. I'm not here to force my beliefs on them.

I don't see it as "forcing beliefs" on people. Would you see it as forcing a belief on someone if you insisted that they believe 2+2=4?

Hopefully not. The various beliefs people have about religion are made up fantasies and should be treated as such. Certainly with one's own children, it seems completely incorrect to imply that it's OK to believe in an afterlife, just as you would not encourage your kids to believe in Santa after a certain age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here to report back. I spoke with my husband about this again last night and I think, as some of you noted, I may be leaning more towards agnostic than atheist. My plan is to drop the whole higher power idea of anything watching over them (I agree that this is ridiculous and very well may creep them out). As far as when we die, I’m going to tell them that our body shuts down and we don’t know what or if anything happens after. But I’ll also let them know that I suspect it’s like falling into a dreamless sleep. Other than what came before the Big Bang and what happens when we die, I think those are the only two things that make me agnostic, but I could be wrong. I consider myself atheist as far as any religions go and superhuman powers.

I think of being dead as like before I was born. I didn't miss a thing. I didn't know to and neither did anyone else before they were born.

Regarding agnostic and atheist -- The word "agnostic" is often misunderstood. It means not knowing. "Atheist" means not believing. Atheists are agnostic too, as no one really knows anything that happens after death, just like we don't know knows anything that happens before life. So, generally, people who call themselves atheists are agnostic atheists -- we don't know and we don't believe. However, we do know that there's no reason to believe that there is anything before life or after death.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tell them the truth. That life is precious, that we're here for relatively little time, and that we need to make the best of the time we have. When someone dies, they live on in our memories, but I don't believe in any sort of afterlife.

I also tell them that that's what I believe -- that they need to grapple with these questions and decide what they believe. We have books about different religions, and they are free to explore their own beliefs. I'm not here to force my beliefs on them.

This sounds like wise counsel.

Whether we are religious or not religious, it is important to allow children space to choose their own path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t sound like an atheist, you sound like someone that needs to heal their relationship with their perception of religion.

But I don’t believe in super-human powers or an almighty God or Gods. I believe in science without all of the other crap.

that's not what you said though, you said "I love the idea of a “higher-power” - perhaps I can call it an energy? Love the cosmos and science behind it all. "

that's god talk in case you didn't know, as there is no "higher-power" in science....whatever that means. As a scientist, I see to many people who thinking they can ground their supernatural beliefs in science by putting sciency words to it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell them the truth. That life is precious, that we're here for relatively little time, and that we need to make the best of the time we have. When someone dies, they live on in our memories, but I don't believe in any sort of afterlife.

I also tell them that that's what I believe -- that they need to grapple with these questions and decide what they believe. We have books about different religions, and they are free to explore their own beliefs. I'm not here to force my beliefs on them.

I don't see it as "forcing beliefs" on people. Would you see it as forcing a belief on someone if you insisted that they believe 2+2=4?

Hopefully not. The various beliefs people have about religion are made up fantasies and should be treated as such. Certainly with one's own children, it seems completely incorrect to imply that it's OK to believe in an afterlife, just as you would not encourage your kids to believe in Santa after a certain age.

I would not force someone to believe why 2+2 is 4. I would give them the skills to understand that themselves. Likewise, I don’t force my kids what to believe about a deity—I explain my thinking and give them skills to think rationally, but I am not trying to indoctrinate anyone in anything. Just like I don’t try to proselytize atheism to my friends who believe in a god.

[Anonymous]

You telllthem the truth
You teach them science