how do atheists justify having children?

[jobhunter7]

Sorry if the question sounds banal... but it seems easier to rationalise having children if you think your children do the right thing mostly in life they'll end up beyond the pearly gates...

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Wins the weirdest thread award!! I totally don't get it! I would never have factored religion into my decision to have children (except maybe feeling sad they will live in a world where religion seems to cause a lot of fighting and war, which I don't want for my children).

Pearly gates? Well if it's all true (and I doubt it v much) won't my poor kids get rather bored of infinite happiness? I mean what's there to do up there after the first 20 years of sitting on a cloud catching up with relatives?

Since so many wars and social problems have been started by people claiming it is in the name of their religion, maybe only atheists should have children.

So many batshit threads on here lately.

I'm adopted. Please don't use us as a gotcha in debates, especially not ones with a very questionable premise. We are not back ups or second bests in relation to biological children.

You haven't answered a question many people have put to you - why do you have children if you're Christian and believe in hell, considering you believe that if they don't adhere to the faith they will burn in hell for eternity?

You feel guilty about having kids? I hope you don't tell them that.

Umm... We have children because we are animals and pre-programmed to procreate. Religion came waaaay later in evolution.

Just because I don't believe in eternal life, doesn't mean that I don't value the life we do have. I love my children and enjoy being with them and want to live as long as possible to have as much time with them as I can. The thought of dying and never seeing them again is incredibly painful. I can imagine it would be hugely comforting to believe we would spend eternity together in the afterlife, but actually I don't belive this to be true at all.

Virgin births. That's what mine were.

I did at one point and still do, even though he's in his 20s think that PFB was the Second Coming. I even toyed with calling him Emmanuel, but XH vetoed it.

HTH.

I don’t have to (that’s one of the many joys of being atheist) and living a good, full life is enough. There doesn’t need to be something else.

Because I wanted them, OK? No bloody duty to reproduce involved.

And what is your next stupid question?

It might be ‘why get a dog/cat/hamster when they die?’

How do I justify it?

Erm. I'm not sure I need to. I certainly didn't need to speak to my imaginary friend to seek justification first.

having children is a big part of many 'traditional' religions think orthodox judaism, catholicism, islam etc. In some communities, you feel out of place if you are a childless couple or single as all the activities and social events revolve around children.

Should I turn the question around to something that makes more sense- if you are an atheist, what motivates you to have a big family i.e. 4+ children? Assuming that the kids are accidents,you are not a billionaire or someone like Boris who genuinely has difficulty practicing safe sex. Having a big family in today's society can be a big sacrifice even if you really love children. I believe religious people find it easier to make that choice because its normalized in their community to have larger families and the belief that 'god wills it' is also a motivation. But if you are an atheist with no belief in a higher being, with no impetus to increase the religious population, what is the motivation. Yes, people do love children but you can have 1, 2 or even 3. why have 4 or 5?

Well, if that is your stance, after death there is nothing. It's the dying that's the worry.

🤐

I never considered religion when deciding to have children.

Pretty sure my religious friends didn't either.

Do Christians only have kids because they've got a chance of going to heaven? Asking the christians out there rather than OP.

Really struggling to make the OP make sense.,

What do you think happens to the atoms of those who don’t have children?

why would you make somebody who is going to die ? Its really cruel tbh

You mean it'd better they were never born, never had a life?
Ugh.

Death is the inevitable end of the wonderful evolved process we call 'life'. It's not 'cruel', it's just the way it works.

I think the 'shut up' type invective on here is out of order. That said, I don't understand the question either.

OP, why don't you ask Muslims and Christians how they justify having children that may end up in hell for all eternity? Heaven is not the only possible outcome, after all. At least atheists can assume that any torment their children experience will end.

In religious communities such as you describe having children can feel like an obligation rather than a truly free choice.

I hate to break it to you OP, but having children has nothing to do with religion. We, like all other animals (and plants come to that), reproduce due to biological programming - if the programming to reproduce wasn't there, species would die out.

I am not an atheist but I have never thought I was bringing a child to this world for the glory of god or for him to go to heaven.

He is here to be happy and has been raised to be considerate to other people and himself.

😸
My XH (and DD’s father) is both an atheist and an anaesthetist.