All you atheist parents wondering how to broach the religion topic to your kids listen up!

[Rhubarb]

I'm a catholic and I teach my kids about all religions. I explain that some people believe different things and some people don't believe at all. I tell them what the Bible says about creation and what science says.

I tell them what my personal beliefs are but I encourage them to make their own minds up. I answer questions with "well this is what I believe but you might think something different".

I take them to Church and they know about the religion we follow, but I do encourage questions as far as I can bearing in mind their young ages.

So what I say to you is this. Don't put a barrier between yourselves and religion when it comes to your kids. Arm them with information and let them make their own minds up. If you push them a certain way, chances are that they'll reject it later on in life. Whereas if you add your support to whatever they decide to believe or not, it will give them the confidence to choose their own paths.

You may be disappointed in their choices but don't try to influence them too strongly one way or the other.

So says me.

We've had dd baptised as dh is catholic and he has some sort of belief "somewhere".

We have said that we will have ds baptised and this baby when it arrives.
We will take them to church if they wish to go but ultimately it is their choice.

However I do have to agree with Unquietdad.

It's a great party trick, that water into wine. I'd love to have that Jesus round when DW and I have our joint 40th in a couple of years. "Here you are, JC, get in the kitchen and make yourself useful! We need a couple more gallons! And can you do blackcurrant squash as well?"

Blasphemy! You are soooooo going down to the fiery depths of Hell boyo!

Blardy heathens!

"And we've got one sausage roll and a fish-stick - can you make that into a buffet for everyone? You've done 5000, 70-odd should be a doddle."

best not get into the rather odd arguments I've with people who believe that He really did turn it into blackcurrant squash...

Rhubarb, you want your DS to be Nicholas Breakspear aka Adrian IV (12th century)?

It's an interesting ambition, certainly, but not eminently achievable...

My brother has dibs on being the second ever English pope, anyway[#]. [Helpfully] Your DS can be the third, if he likes.

[#] Just for the conversation-stoppers, if nothing else:

"What do your brothers and sisters do?"
"Well, X works in dental supplies, Y is an artist and Z is the Pope."

He owes it to me to let me have that conversation before I die...

Sue I've had that one too

(convo about the wine not being real wine, that is!)

UQD Heaven as described in the Bible is veritably flowing with booze! And food!

BTW we are CofE regulars and we have always said prayers with the dc in the morning and before bed, even when they were babies, and read Bible stories, taken them to church etc - So I guess we are pretty much 'indoctrinating' them.

But of course there is a kind of obligation on christian parents to pass the faith on to their children, so if you do believe, it's inevitable that you will want your children to as well. I can't see anything wrong wiith that, except if you use religion to stifle and control children. IME it can be the very opposite - it can be so liberating and affirming, and that's the kind of religion I want to pass on to my dc.

Gosh your OP was a bit forthright Rhuby!

FWIW I just wait until the kkds ask questions, answer them honestlya nd say not everyone agrees with me. However theya re surrounded by my RE texts and very aware of religious diversity through that

I cant imagine forcing my beliefs onto them- seems a bizarre aim to me.

(ahundredtimes- some people believe in God, some in muhammad- I think you'll find Muslims believe most vehemently in God, muhammad was the perfect Example but not divine)

oh glory, sorry and thank you. Ah, so both think there's one god but different prophets yes? or no? I've no idea, I was brought up by atheist secular types who banned all religious materials!

oooh, DS (5)and religion. I ahev told him what i (don't) believe, he knows about Christianity, Hindus and Muslims in some detail.

DP said something which DS misheard as a slur on God (it wasn't even about God)

DS: (furiously) Don't be so rude! Don't say that about God!
DP: I thought you didn't believe in God?
DS: No, but he's very popular!

and

A vehement discussion between DS and 3 'by default' CoE friends. I have always told DS that different people believe different things and that's ok, so I am abit surprised to hear:

DS: God isn't real. You don't know what you're talking about, he isn't real.
Friends: yes he is, God is real!

ad infinitum, getting more and more heated

DS: He isn't REAL. Not real with LEGS. God is just a SPIRIT. You can't see his LEGS!

Broadly, Muslims believe that God revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad, God's final prophet, and regard the Qur'an and the Sunnah (the words and deeds of Muhammad) as the fundamental sources of Islam. They do not regard Muhammad as the founder of a new religion, but as the restorer of the original monotheistic faith of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. Islamic tradition holds that Judaism and Christianity distorted the messages of these prophets over time either in interpretation, in text, or both. (OK, so I cut and pasted thatg from Wikipedia, but it summarised it better than I could do).

One God who sent a book to each antion, and that book was either corrupted or lost in varying degrees- for this reason they do actually accept jesus in their list of prophets, but Muhammad is the Seal of Prophets (ie the last and most definite)

Equally broadly, Christianity began as an offshoot of Judaism, and includes the Hebrew Bible, known to Christians as the Old Testament, within its canon. Christians believe Jesus to be the Son of God and the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament, and they see the New Testament as the record of the Gospel that was revealed by Jesus. (OK, OK, wikipedia again).

LOL Lemonaid

ahd to do a debate last year about christianity and Islam- my standpoint was that they shared the same roots so were branches of the same religion (assigned standpoints but lots of subsequent research)

I still dont understand why, if you are an atheist, you feel the need to educate your children about religion at all tbh. I mean, some schools cover it, it comes up occasionally through friends, weddings, christenings, can't you just quickly discuss it then?

Rhubarb have only read you're orig post but actually think that it should be aimed at all people teaching religion.Actually I am of no discernable faith but my dc's are told that they may make up their minds when they are adults.Until then I will answer all q's about religion and guess what they don't really have any(I answer when they do).It's not relevant to their day to day life.
I know of plenty of religious people who push their religion on to their dc's and so do schools.In fact christians are some of the worst.
I actually don't teach religion as such I teach about other cultures which I believe is a much better way to teach dc's and think it's time religion was removed and culture taught in schools as a whole.
Also aren't you actually contradicting you're religion by not teaching your dc's that you're beliefs(ie the bible) is the truth and nothing else.As I remember isn't that one of the things religions say'Teach your dc's that gods word is the only truth'?

Mmmm - I just say mum doesn't believe but you can make your own mind up when you are older.

However, the subject is forced upon us because of all the "indoctrination" that he gets at school.

Bit confusing really, at school he is meant to believe them (he is only 5 after all) but at home mum says that is tosh. Surely, I shouldn't have to be dealing with this so soon. After all I protect him from other difficult subjects such as war, sex, violence etc..

my mums neighbour foudns ome ducklings in her garden and spaded them

she otld everyone rpoudly

todl mum if she dos it agin am going to grass ehr to rrspca

mum and dad delayed a break away as htey wer waiting for the eggs to hctahc then they carry them ot the river in a shoe box every year

Religion tends to come up a lot, esp if your child likes books and you do too - ancient Egyptians, Noah, Nativity play at school, Greek myths etc
I don't talk about it that much, but if ds asks if it is true, I say, 'some people think so, but no, it's just a story' Just like I do about witches and ghosts. He still loves to think about witches and ghosts though!

I do teach 'em my beliefs but I think it is awfully narrow minded to say that your beliefs are the only beliefs that count. What if I'm wrong? I'm prepared to admit that my catholic religion might be wrong.

Although I really do believe in God and Jesus. But other stuff is open to interpretation.

My point is that kids need a broad range of knowledge on the topic of religion whether you believe in it yourself or not. It's very cultural and important to know. And they should be encouraged to ask lots of questions, not just to follow one line of belief blindly. I don't believe in blind faith. I believe in questions and research and stuff like that.

But as I said before, faith has to be experienced and I can only hope that I bring my kids up to be spiritual and to have their own personal faith, whatever religion they choose to follow that up with is fine. I'd be disappointed if they chose not to have any, but if that was their thought out decision then I'd have to respect it.

Enid because understanding equals tolerance in many ways.

The old chestnut I often use on here is the Sikh- if you met one carrying a dagger and you didnt understand, then it could be intimidating- meet him and understand and its different.

Likewise understanding and respecting peoples needs at times like ramadan, being able to share the rich stories of Buddhism and Hiduism.

And just because I do not believe in divinity, does not mean I cannot learn and teach my children moral and philosophical viewpoints from the histories of the great religiosn.

Finally how can you understand society and history wiothout understanding the world religions? How can you for example understand partitionnin India, or The Crusades?

I'm torn between my desire to leave DS with an open mind and countering the blind way that religion is presented as "fact".
We've explained the power of wishful thinking to him, and how some people get really angry if you say anything is wrong with their religion.
We've also been frank about the Moslem bombings which nearly got his mother and the Christian ones that nearly got me.
Creationism is lurking around, but when I broached the subject he dismissed it as utter rubbish, I was so proud, at 6 all by himself he worked out that dinosaurs could not possibly have been pets of cavemen. That puts him ahead of 38% of British adults.
He's reading the "Horrible Histories", which explain in detail what various religions have done when they got political power, and he's picked up the antics of George Bush to understand that this is not something restricted to previous centuries.
I'm quite proud of the way that he doesn't (yet) use the word "evangelical" as term of abuse.

I let dh's mother off on the rat spading because it had been mauled by the dog anyway and they aren't sentimental about stuff like rats.

She didn't think twice about dd being there though and as dd didn't seem affected by it I didn't bother either.