to buy my kids a childrens' Bible when I'm an atheist

[clairefromsteps]

My husband and I are both atheists. Not mad, ranting ones; we just don't happen to believe in god. Our village school is excellent and also happens to be a C of E school. Our twins (4) have just started there and while we are atheists we are happy for our children to be taught about god, Jesus etc as we think they should make their own mind up about religion when the time comes.

So, today they came home from school and DS said 'Do you know Mummy? Today we had assembly and Mrs Headteacher said that if you have a baby boy you all have to be killed! Phew, isn't it lucky that 2-month-old-DD2 came out as a girl! Or we'd all be KILLED! They'd KILL us! But it's OK because we could float down a river and escape.' I asked him if they'd had a story about a chap called Moses in assembly and he said that yes, they had.

Bearing in mind my son clearly does not intend to pay attention in assembly, I think it would be a good idea to get a kids' Bible to clear up any misunderstandings with. You know, a nice illustrated one with all the stories in. Not too hellfire-and-brimstoney. DH, however, thinks it would be hypocritical and got all huffy when I suggested it. I think he's being foolish and that we chose to send our kids to a CofE school and should be prepared to answer/clear up questions that our kids may have.

AIBU?

YANBU.

If your DCs want a depth of understanding in a vast range of subjects from Shakespeare to Street Names, from building design to art history, from politics to the entire canon of Western Literature, then they'll need a decent-ish grasp of the Bible and what's inside. It's essential. (Get them stories of Greek and Roman myths as well.)

I am always baffled when posters argue that they don't want their children to have any religious story teaching at all. Don't they realise how many references those children will be without?

YANBU OP, at all. Your DH's attitude on the other hand, smarts of being a bit extremist.

Don't buy a bible... buy a book of bible stories. They only need the salient points rather than the reams of 'begats' etc.

My children have a children's book of bible story's might be easier for thwm to read and understand

slightly off topic but nevermind...
i would define the bible as a history/story of faith;

1-it is a story of the world and how it came to be which was written by people who have faith. this faith (or god) therefore informed their understanding of history (eg the writer's "lens" which they looked through when seeing the world around them and explaining it)

2-the faith of the reader determines how you understand the text-as either A a sacred, god inspired text with divine truth in it, or B a collection of nice stories.
if you think A then you end up defining the bible as a history of faith of B then as a story of a, not THE, faith

...plus or minus a million grey areas
ps my daughter is 4 months old so have no idea how to make this understandable for toddlers but making them understand that they have a choice is important

www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2008/08/27/illustrated-stories-from-the-bible/

Or you could get them the above! (JOKE, btw..... )

Seriously, though, as a fellow atheist (who always loved bible stories!) I've been wondering if you have any recommendations for bible stories for an almost 5 year old? I feel he would be missing out on so much (as previous posters have said) that is pertinent to an understanding of our culture/history/literature, etc. Any suggestions?

We're atheists and asked my (devout Christian) parents for a children's bible for our older daughter's first birthday.

Atheism doesn't mean you should be ignorant of a religion which shaped so much of our culture, quite the opposite.

Our children will learn about Christianity in the same way as about Greco-Roman Polytheism, and other religions.

My Children's Bible was not a very good introduction to Christianity I think. The New Testament was boring and worthy so I spent a lot of time on the Old Testament which is not very moral, IMO. I was scared in particular by the illustration of Jezebel being eaten by dogs.

Ooh, how bizarre to see my old thread pop up when I was having a nosey on AIBU.

Chocolate - we actually ended up getting them the Usbourne Children's Bible - it's really just the stories with lots of gorgeous pictures. We also got them Buddha At Bedtime, Stories From Around The World (Usbourne) and, at DH's insistence, See Inside Science. All of them are really good. Especially Buddha At Bedtime, so thanks to the gals who suggested that one.

The kids haven't had the books yet - it's their birthday in a couple of weeks so they're having them then. And it will undoubtedly go down in family history as The Birthday Where Mum And Dad Totally Lost The Plot And Bought Us Loads Of Bibles And Stuff Instead Of The Zoobles We Really Wanted.

I started a similar thread while ago - my dc love their children's bible! And dh and I are atheists. The bible is full of great stories about heroes and villains and adversity etc - plus it's full of cultural and literary references. Or rather there are tons of cultural and literary references to the bible in every day life.
I always bought them kids' Shakespeare for the same reason

"The earliest gospel is said to be Mark, dated between 55 to 70 A.D."

The earliest gospel is said to be dated between 55 to 70AD by people who believe that Jesus actually could accurately predict the future. Given that it describes the destruction of the Jewish Temple which only happened in AD70, many scholars prefer to date it after this event.

But even if you believe in this surprisingly accurate prophecy, Ireneaus in 180AD said that Mark wrote his gospel after the deaths of Peter and Paul, which would put its composition at AD65 the earliest.

Thanks, Claire! Funny, but I just e-mailed my MIL to get him the Stories from Around the World one - I was probably on Amazon looking it up at the same time you were on here posting about it - bizarre....

(Wonders: Is God watching down on us from Heaven and giving us A Sign?)

Wooo...spooky!

Everyone has already said it-they need it to understand art, history, literature and the news.

The bible makes some good reading, it's a best seller I hear.
The koran also has some noteworthy versus.

Being atheist doesn't mean you banish education of religion from your household.

chocolate
wow @ your link, a very eye opening illustrated book of the bible.

mamamoonmim I know! I'd like to see how they do the story of Jezebel, especially the part I always loved from school: 'and they ate all but the palms of her hands...'

Bwa ha ha (crazy spooky emoticon.....)

My DS's children's bible was acquired when he was christened. In hindsight that DOES feel hypocritical, but I was hedging my bets shall we say, and also not wanting DS to ever have to go through the embarrassing process of being christened later in life. DD hasn't been christened - not sure whether to get her done to be consistent or leave it be. I can't in all honesty look a minister in the eye and say I believe in God any more.

The bible itself I've no problem. Important literature just like Greek myths and classic fairy tales.

YANBU. I seem to remember seeing some illustrated children's bibles in M&S for £5 - no idea how good they are.

It is tricky, though. I'm an atheist but was brought up with all the Old Testament and New Testament stories, attended church etc - I am very familiar with Christian stories and bible quotations. I think it's quite sad that my DD isn't familiar with those things, but at the same time I think it's quite difficult to teach those things to children in a way that makes it clear you don't believe them to be true - particularly when your DC are going to be taught this stuff in school by people who do believe them to be true.

Having said that, my Dad used to read to me from a book of Greek myths and legends, and I never imagined they were true.

YANBU, and some useful pointers for books for this atheist parent. Thanks!

YABU to imply that the default for atheists is "mad, ranting ones" though .

Tell your DH that it will give you DC great general knowledge.

How else will then stand a chance of getting on University Challenge when they are older

Might it be more appropriate to find a nice childrens book about all religions?