forms asking for baby's religion

[crazybutterfly]

Just completing more forms for ds 10 mths nursery which have asked for mine and dh religions (chrisitan and athiest respectively) which is fair enough nit the forn then gies onto ask for ds's religion. Wibu to put unknown since I have no idea what if any religon he will be and since he cannot understand the concept at present he seems wrong to say he has one ifyswim?

Sorry for typos on phone

Just leave that blank. That will be for when families are raising a child in a religion until they are old enough to decide for themselves

How on earth can anyone know the baby's religion? Bonkers.

Just say none or leave it blank.

Leave it blank, you are not obliged to answer if you don't want to. It will make no difference to your child at all.

They do it because they have a duty to try and reach all sections of the community, and if they can show that they have had applications from a wide range of religious communities then it ticks a box for them when OFSTED visit. If they have a high number of children from one community but no children from another community that is very close by, then they can be expected to make an effort to advertise themselves and their services more widely. It's more relevant when the free government hours kick in than it is for babies like yours.

I'm another for saying leave it blank. And leave your and your dh's blank, too. It's nothing to do with them how you think and/or believe.

In response to the question how can anyone know what religion their baby is?..if you have your child christened you promise to bring them up in the Christian faith...so some parents do know

Ooh yanbu! I had a row with a health visitor about this! She wanted me to fill in DDs religion and I said "None yet" and she said "Can't we just put CofE?" And I said no..."DH and I aren't christened and DD hasn't an opinion yet so put none"

And she STILL argued with me! I phoned her office and complained. She'd not have argued "Put CofE" if I had said DD was Muslim or Catholic or something!

Surely it's just a shorthand way of asking whether the child is being brought up in a particular faith/religion. You can just skip the question if that's not the case, or if you feel it's irrelevant/none of their business. But sometimes it might be helpful for the nursery to be aware as some parents might want them to accommodate particular religious or cultural practices.

And yes also can be useful demographic info.

Maybe it wasn't the ideal way of phrasing the question, but maybe it's not to be taken too literally!

I would say "unknown"

The question is there so that people who would like to state their family's religion can do so. You can always just put "none" or leave it blank.

leave the bonkers question blank

I think unknown is a very good answer. If they want to ask 'if your child is being brought up in a religion, which one?' they could.

I do find the idea that a child can have a religion, rather than being brought up in one, absurd.

Some people already know, christian, catholic, muslim jewish etc as they believe and so will be bringing up the child with that religion. You don't know so just say so.....

I agree that this question is somewhat bonkers, however, the information could be helpful to nurseries in some case. For instance, if a baby comes from a Muslim family, the nursery staff may not be wanting to feed this baby any pork products. The nursery staff may also not want to miss any important religious holidays, especially if they have a number of children from a particular religion.

I always put 'shopping'.

What they mean is "What religion (if any) is the child being brought up in?" - and that could be the same as yours or the same as DHs if they are different. So, for some families, it is a perfectly sensible question.

eg if you were Christian and DH was Muslim, and you had agreed to raise your child according to the requirements of Islam, then you would put "Child's faith = Muslim".

Leave it blank or say "none" if it's not something that is relevant to your situation.

As stupid as it may sound to some having the Last Rights given etc as the child (or anyone) is dying is important to some, who believe strongly in their religion.

My DH was Catholic, we knew that he was dying and he would die. As we got that news one time, getting a priest to him and having the Last Rites carried out was what entered my mind, because it was inportant to him and his Mother.

Some religions have certain 'contiditions; attached to how the end ideally should be and the body handled.

This just ensures that people's wishes are carried out, which at one time they wasn't as it was assumed everyone was CofE. Children die and it is up to the parents,until a certain age whether that child is considered of as having a religion.

Unless you want all Church burials stopped for children?

If they want to ask 'if your child is being brought up in a religion, which one

How do you fit that next to 'gender' etc, on a form or on computer?

It could also be because of dietary requirements etc. E.g. if your baby was being brought up Jewish, that would probably then lead them to consider his diet e.g. no pork etc. And you and DH may be athiest and Jewish respectively but bringing him up as Jewish.

I'm surprised there isn't a N/A box though. I'd just write that next to the question.

I assume the form has a section for the child's details, which contains a box marked simply "Religion". You interpret this as meaning "What is the child's religion?" and as such you take issue with it. Would it help if you imagined the implied question was more sensible e.g. "In what religion, i any, is the child being brought up?"

There are two reasons.

1. they legally have to ask this stuff.

2. foe things like dietry requirements / holidays / festivals etc/

Surely if you want to know about dietary requirements, the best thing to ask about is dietary requirements though?

Yes DFs son is being raised in her Jewish faith with the full blessing of his non Jewish Father. So question makes sense for them.

For all of us atheists with believing DHs it gets left blank, although I prefer unknown.

In later years I've put CofE when DD2 said she did believe in God and now reverted to None for them both as they are old enough to say.