My 6-year old DD is getting into religion because of the Berenstain freaking bears

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound really immature

+1 But really, this is just an an intentionally provocative post to induce mass rage posting.

+10

For sure. A zealous atheist would never have these books in the house.

I have a bunch. I think I've only read some of the earlier ones. I don't remember any religious references.

Agree!

[Anonymous]

Weird, I read all those books as a good and never expressed interest in church. I think you should just tell her that different families have different believes and do different things and your family doesn't believe in God or go to church or whatever it is that your actual beliefs are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound really immature

+1 But really, this is just an an intentionally provocative post to induce mass rage posting.

OP here. No it’s not. Why would you say that?

I see I was right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weird, I read all those books as a good and never expressed interest in church. I think you should just tell her that different families have different believes and do different things and your family doesn't believe in God or go to church or whatever it is that your actual beliefs are.

The old ones aren’t religious. IIRC correctly, the son took over writing the books in the 2000s and started doing the religious ones.

[Anonymous]

The Living Lights BB books are the religious ones, written by the son. Avoid those if you want to avoid all the church references.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just say no? You are the parents and make the decisions about religion for your very young child. You don’t need to vilify religion… presumably she reads about many things that her family doesn’t do.

That’s the beauty of books - we learn about people and experiences different from ourselves.

If this were a teenager, I would possibly engage differently.

This! At 6 years old it's perfectly fine to say in our family we do not believe in God or practice any religion, but you are welcome to explore it more when you are a teenager.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You sound really immature

Just the opposite. Very mature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Living Lights BB books are the religious ones, written by the son. Avoid those if you want to avoid all the church references.

There should be a bigger warning label. At least put a Jesus on there somewhere.

[Anonymous]

A better warning label would be something like this:

[Anonymous]

Wow you’d have thought the book was sexually explicit and had gay themes or something.

[Anonymous]

Give her 30 year old Berenstain books

[Anonymous]

Find the Jewish Berenstein Bears books

[Anonymous]

Let he go to a church and see if she likes it. UU is pretty mild. What are you afraid of? Are you one of them book burners.

Do you offer any spiritual fulfillment to your child?

[Anonymous]

This is not a complicated situation but I do wonder why people view Christianity as inherently so reactionary. You do not have to go to a toxic megachurch. I grew up in NY, our pastor was a gay alcoholic man who was committed to serving the (mostly illegal) local Guatemalan population. Our youth group was always doing food pantries and donation drives for homeless and immigrant populations. This was in the 80s/90s. Our current pastor uses she/them pronouns and is very active in homeless and prison support. I never knew anyone who thought the Bible was “literal” until I got to college or subscribed to any type of evangelical faith. I do think it is nice to believe in something if you can find a faith that resonates. It gives structure to your life and ideally helps makes you a better person, situated in a framework larger then yourself / family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DEAR OP- the Bernstein bears faith based stories are clearly labeled with a logo on the front cover. A faith story or something like that. I avoided those but I have no problem with religion and I love the community that church can offer you. Find one in your area that you feel accepted at, take her one day. For me faith offers community and set of guidelines to grow and be good. Nothing negative needs to come from it.

I love the idea of a Christianity warning label.

LOL!