Ummm, Parent of DS Friend told me I was using religious propaganda on their son...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I say - send her a brief email that this was all a misunderstanding and make sure you tell her that you are NOT religious at all. Also, let her know that her overreaction hurt your feelings.

This seems like the wrong response to me, particularly the "make sure you tell her that you are NOT religious at all" bit. Even if she were religious, the reaction by the other parent was over the top and inappropriate. Saying something like "don't worry, it's OK, I'm not religious" sort of suggests that atheism is acceptable or desirable, which could compound the problem is the other family is religious.

Atheism is acceptable, PP. Being non-religious is acceptable.

Not really. Atheists are not good people, fundamentally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So, you don't know anything about them so thought you'd do some Googling and that makes you the expert?

BTW, isn't it horrible to tell children that God made them very special and that He loves them very much? Terrible isn't it? Such nasty things for little ears to hear.

Whether it's horrible or not is a question of opinion, which reasonable people may differ on.

Whether it's religious or not is a question of fact. Yes, it is religious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I say - send her a brief email that this was all a misunderstanding and make sure you tell her that you are NOT religious at all. Also, let her know that her overreaction hurt your feelings.

This seems like the wrong response to me, particularly the "make sure you tell her that you are NOT religious at all" bit. Even if she were religious, the reaction by the other parent was over the top and inappropriate. Saying something like "don't worry, it's OK, I'm not religious" sort of suggests that atheism is acceptable or desirable, which could compound the problem is the other family is religious.

Atheism is acceptable, PP. Being non-religious is acceptable.

Not really. Atheists are not good people, fundamentally.

Are you a troll, or are you really that ignorant?

Not ignorant. I mean, the mother at the center of this story here is proof enough of my observation.

Definitely a troll, good one....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, here's what I think:

1. We are non-religious. If I learned that my child had been shown Veggie Tales on a playdate, I would be upset. I don't like being proselytized, and I especially don't want my child being proselytized.
2. However, my reaction would be, "Since we are non-religious, do you think that in future you could not show my child Veggie Tales on playdates?", rather than "That's it, you horrible person, no playdates ever again!".

If you apologized sincerely, then I think that the next step is up to her, to accept your apology or not.

Oh look, the mom from the playdate just showed up! The horrors of Veggie Tales. Given the lyrics of Silly Songs with Larry - I have no clue what your idea of proselytizing is... Talking about cucumbers? Hairbrushes?

http://www.songlyrics.com/veggietales/silly-songs-with-larry/

Here are the lyrics to the album - perhaps you could point out as someone who is non-religious what is so offensive about these lyrics?

Nope, I am the PP. I am not the mother from the playdate.

I have not ever seen a Veggie Tales, so I have no idea about whether each individual Veggie Tales has Christian content. But Veggie Tales, in general, being Christian is not some silly idea that I made up.

http://veggietales.com/vtmain/whoweare/

So, you don't know anything about them so thought you'd do some Googling and that makes you the expert?

BTW, isn't it horrible to tell children that God made them very special and that He loves them very much? Terrible isn't it? Such nasty things for little ears to hear.

Non-believers don't want people telling their children that. Would you want a non-believer telling your kid that there's no god and god didn't make him?

Same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I say - send her a brief email that this was all a misunderstanding and make sure you tell her that you are NOT religious at all. Also, let her know that her overreaction hurt your feelings.

This seems like the wrong response to me, particularly the "make sure you tell her that you are NOT religious at all" bit. Even if she were religious, the reaction by the other parent was over the top and inappropriate. Saying something like "don't worry, it's OK, I'm not religious" sort of suggests that atheism is acceptable or desirable, which could compound the problem is the other family is religious.

Atheism is acceptable, PP. Being non-religious is acceptable.

Not really. Atheists are not good people, fundamentally.

Are you a troll, or are you really that ignorant?

Not ignorant. I mean, the mother at the center of this story here is proof enough of my observation.

How so? If I know a psycho Christian person, are all Christians psycho? No.

Your critical thinking skills leave a lot to be desired. As I suspected based on your earlier comment.

[Anonymous]

I am not religious but I also don't shelter my kids from religious content. I figure they need to learn that some people believe in God or Allah or whatever or nothing. It's all about being educated.

But I find it really interesting that parents that are non-religious will not let their kids hear anything about God or the Bible or anything Chrisitan but they all have books on mythology.

Just an interesting observation.

OP, People around here are crazy. Don't worry about this 1 kid or 1 mom. Your son will find friends with normal parents eventually. They will also have friends with crazy parents. It's all a part of growing up. I have 1 friend who has a 13 yo and still can't watch Disney channel - because it is too advanced. So we don't watch Disney channel when she is over. Whatever....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, here's what I think:

1. We are non-religious. If I learned that my child had been shown Veggie Tales on a playdate, I would be upset. I don't like being proselytized, and I especially don't want my child being proselytized.
2. However, my reaction would be, "Since we are non-religious, do you think that in future you could not show my child Veggie Tales on playdates?", rather than "That's it, you horrible person, no playdates ever again!".

If you apologized sincerely, then I think that the next step is up to her, to accept your apology or not.

Oh look, the mom from the playdate just showed up! The horrors of Veggie Tales. Given the lyrics of Silly Songs with Larry - I have no clue what your idea of proselytizing is... Talking about cucumbers? Hairbrushes?

http://www.songlyrics.com/veggietales/silly-songs-with-larry/

Here are the lyrics to the album - perhaps you could point out as someone who is non-religious what is so offensive about these lyrics?

Nope, I am the PP. I am not the mother from the playdate.

I have not ever seen a Veggie Tales, so I have no idea about whether each individual Veggie Tales has Christian content. But Veggie Tales, in general, being Christian is not some silly idea that I made up.

http://veggietales.com/vtmain/whoweare/

So, you don't know anything about them so thought you'd do some Googling and that makes you the expert?

BTW, isn't it horrible to tell children that God made them very special and that He loves them very much? Terrible isn't it? Such nasty things for little ears to hear.

Non-believers don't want people telling their children that. Would you want a non-believer telling your kid that there's no god and god didn't make him?

Same thing.

Ummm sure... My kids learn that people have different beliefs. It is not big deal. (I am not the PP from above.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So if I am raising my kids as Christians and I hear vaguely that something has non Christian ideas in it, I should just immediately decide it is wrong and harmful to my child without knowing anything about it? Interesting approach you have. You may hate everything Christian or that has faith or mention of God but calling Silly Songs with Larry proselytizing is just laughable.

Who said anything about that? Certainly I didn't. How you raise your children is your business. Likewise, how I raise my children is my business. And while there are certainly non-religious people who hate everything religious, it would be a mistake to assume that therefore all non-religious people hate everything religious. And I did not say that "Silly Songs with Larry" is proselytizing -- I said that Veggie Tales is Christian. How do I know this? Because Veggie Tales says so.

[Anonymous]

I hate it when these threads dissolve like this.

OP, if you are still wading through the bullshit on here I just wanted to say I'm sorry you went through this. I hope your son isn't too heartbroken over not having this friend over for playdates. It actually hurt my heart thinking about how confusing that is for a child. Good luck to you both!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not religious but I also don't shelter my kids from religious content. I figure they need to learn that some people believe in God or Allah or whatever or nothing. It's all about being educated.

But I find it really interesting that parents that are non-religious will not let their kids hear anything about God or the Bible or anything Chrisitan but they all have books on mythology.

Just an interesting observation.

OP, People around here are crazy. Don't worry about this 1 kid or 1 mom. Your son will find friends with normal parents eventually. They will also have friends with crazy parents. It's all a part of growing up. I have 1 friend who has a 13 yo and still can't watch Disney channel - because it is too advanced. So we don't watch Disney channel when she is over. Whatever....

A. Not all non-religious parents object to their children hearing about God or religion. Kind of a ridiculous blanket statement to make.

B. The Disney channel is the worst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
But I find it really interesting that parents that are non-religious will not let their kids hear anything about God or the Bible or anything Chrisitan but they all have books on mythology.

You've done a survey? And the results showed that all parents who are non-religious

a. do not let their kids hear anything about religion
b. have books about mythology (whose mythology, by the way?)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
But I find it really interesting that parents that are non-religious will not let their kids hear anything about God or the Bible or anything Chrisitan but they all have books on mythology.

You've done a survey? And the results showed that all parents who are non-religious

a. do not let their kids hear anything about religion
b. have books about mythology (whose mythology, by the way?)?

I typed it badly. I have a few friend that are non-religious and are totally against anything religious but they have mythology books and watch mythology shows. I thought it was odd that they would not let the kids learn about the Bible (we watched that Bible show on Discovery) - for them it would just be literature and pretty important literature if you want to be educated or ever go on Jeopardy.

Greek mythology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not religious but I also don't shelter my kids from religious content. I figure they need to learn that some people believe in God or Allah or whatever or nothing. It's all about being educated.

But I find it really interesting that parents that are non-religious will not let their kids hear anything about God or the Bible or anything Chrisitan but they all have books on mythology.

Just an interesting observation.

OP, People around here are crazy. Don't worry about this 1 kid or 1 mom. Your son will find friends with normal parents eventually. They will also have friends with crazy parents. It's all a part of growing up. I have 1 friend who has a 13 yo and still can't watch Disney channel - because it is too advanced. So we don't watch Disney channel when she is over. Whatever....

A. Not all non-religious parents object to their children hearing about God or religion. Kind of a ridiculous blanket statement to make.

B. The Disney channel is the worst.

All the kids shows suck (except Sponge Bob - ) but at some point a 13 yo needs to see what is out there and a parent needs to say... hey you see I don't really agree with that... the kids are too young or this is too mature... or the girl is really not respecting herself, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So if I am raising my kids as Christians and I hear vaguely that something has non Christian ideas in it, I should just immediately decide it is wrong and harmful to my child without knowing anything about it? Interesting approach you have. You may hate everything Christian or that has faith or mention of God but calling Silly Songs with Larry proselytizing is just laughable.

Who said anything about that? Certainly I didn't. How you raise your children is your business. Likewise, how I raise my children is my business. And while there are certainly non-religious people who hate everything religious, it would be a mistake to assume that therefore all non-religious people hate everything religious. And I did not say that "Silly Songs with Larry" is proselytizing -- I said that Veggie Tales is Christian. How do I know this? Because Veggie Tales says so.

So if anything is Christian you just immediately label that as proselytizing? Proselytizing is an action so perhaps you could speak to what aspects of veggie tales were actively proselytizing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not religious but I also don't shelter my kids from religious content. I figure they need to learn that some people believe in God or Allah or whatever or nothing. It's all about being educated.

But I find it really interesting that parents that are non-religious will not let their kids hear anything about God or the Bible or anything Chrisitan but they all have books on mythology.

Just an interesting observation.

OP, People around here are crazy. Don't worry about this 1 kid or 1 mom. Your son will find friends with normal parents eventually. They will also have friends with crazy parents. It's all a part of growing up. I have 1 friend who has a 13 yo and still can't watch Disney channel - because it is too advanced. So we don't watch Disney channel when she is over. Whatever....

A. Not all non-religious parents object to their children hearing about God or religion. Kind of a ridiculous blanket statement to make.

B. The Disney channel is the worst.

All the kids shows suck (except Sponge Bob - ) but at some point a 13 yo needs to see what is out there and a parent needs to say... hey you see I don't really agree with that... the kids are too young or this is too mature... or the girl is really not respecting herself, etc.

Oh, I totally agree that older kids should be *allowed* to watch the Disney Channel. I just think their tween shows seem like a contest to see who can be the rudest, most obnoxious piece of crap that ever walked the earth.