AIBU for not wanting my MIL to discuss Jesus and heaven with my 5 year old?

[Spearshake]

I was just having breakfast with my 5 year old son and he asked me, 'do only people who love Jesus go to heaven?; I asked him who told you that.
Unfortunately, my tone must have been a bit sharp (hey, first thing in the morning) so he said, 'I don't know'

(I know it's his grandma though (my MIL) because she has been staying with us for the last week and we haven't been in contact with anyone else who is likely to make such comments) Unless he has been on the evangelical channels again

The problem is that I am an atheist, so I have a tough time with such discussions. He asked me what God is the other day, and I asked him to wait until his father gets home and he can answer (he was brought up more religiously than me)

Any ideas from fellow mumsnetters of a similar religious (or non-) bent on how to deal with such ideas would be most welcome.

Thank you!

Very well, fourto, what is the basis for a belief that mankind, with an apparently non religious, (never mind religious) history of warfare dating back to the stone age is making such a good job of things on his own?

Your question is nonsensical dora.

Alan, I was very careful to say 'virtually all'.
....
To dismiss the belief in God as something we did because we were at the mercy of nature, is just lazy. It doesn't say anything about its origins. Maybe it's just genetic. I can see how it would offer evolutionary advantages.

hey 4tothe12 ... question for you. Where is your evidence that we're born atheist.

To call doubting the capabilities of mankind nonsensical is the grown up response?

Well, if you're happy with the condition of strife and prevalent warfare that mankind habitually finds himself in, I'll leave you to it.

No dora I am calling your question nonsensical.

"virtually all"- you did say not "very often"- king, which does mean that sometimes god intervenes. So he does and he can- when he likes.
So why doesn't he more often. when horrific things are happening to children for instance?
Does he have a Suduko habit?

.

It's just a slightly longer version of the question

do you believe that mankind's condition of frequent warfare and strife is satisfactory?

King- if we look at some of the most atheist countries in the world- such as Norway, with only 10% of people believing in god, children tend not to believe either.
If they were born with a" pre-existing belief in a divine being" why is that figure so low ( and even falling)?

kingofthebongo of course there's more to it that . Sociology of religion is a massive topic.
But it's not like you provided any actual evidence to back up your claims, so I don't think you should be suggesting other posters are being lazy.

Alan I don't think He stops child rape at all. This life is like the 40 years in the desert, on the way to the Promised Land. Lots of bad things will happen in the desert, but we'll forget all about them once we reach the other side. That's my take on it anyway.

The miracles from the NT were part of Jesus' ministry, and mission to bring people to God. That may not seem like much, but look at what we're still debating (and in my case believing)100 generations later.

So if you concede that some cultures had no belief in a God then it rather rules out the god given God awareness thing.

noeffingidea, I only disputed a claim which is yet to be backed up. And at least I gave some evidence.

No Alan, you have clearly misunderstood. I reject the claim that we are all born atheist, not that we're born believers.

What claim, and what evidence did you give?

So where is your evidence that we are not all born atheist?

4tothedozen ... where did you get that 10%

" A 2006 survey in the Norwegian newspaperAftenposten (on February 17), saw 1,006 inhabitants of Norway answering the question "What do you believe in?" 29% answered "I believe in a god or deity", 23% answered "I believe in a higher power without being certain of what", 26% answered "I don't believe in God or higher powers" and 22% answered "I am in doubt"."

king you have given me no evidence to suggest that we are born with a "pre-existing belief in a divine being".

Not one shred.

Oh yes I have. Contrary to you, may I add. You've only given a fake number, while the burden of proof is supposed to rest with you.

What evidence have you given me king?

Why is the God people choose determined by place and time?

Isn't the default position agnosticism? When you're born, presumably, not only do you not know what God is, I'd imagine that you do not know what belief or existence are and you would not know what a test for existence was. So, presumably, babies aren't born with the choice of being deists or atheists. They just don't know. But, then, babies don't know a lot of things. That's why children go to school.

I refuse to believe in (ghosts) but am I not allowed stop short of insisting that they don't exist?

Again, no one is insisting god doesn't exist. So, if you aren't convinced by the evidence that ghosts exist, but can't prove they don't, how do you act daily? Do you act as if they exist or as if they don't?

I can't say categorically that they do not exist. So, unless I'm being asked about it, I do nothing. And when I'm being asked, I say that I don't know.