5 year told me that god told him not to say naughty words

[Getinthebath]

I have name changed (embarrassed and really dont want to offend other religious friends). I am sorry but hang me and quarter me if you must. I am an athiest and very frightened of my children being brought up with a religion of any denomination.

DS has told dh today that god has told him not to say naughty words. dh thinks this has come from his teacher. (non-denominational school) There have been a few other incidents of God. (sorry really dont mean to offend anyone religious. I do realise i have a huge hang up and i have no idea how/if i will ever get over it.)

I know they have to have collective worship but is telling my son that god says not to say naughty words (bum, wee, etc) really necessary. And are prayers before lunch collective worship?

I really dont like the idea of him praying. I want him to learn about religions but do not feel that prayers are appropriate and neither is him being told by God that he shouldn't say naughty words.

Does anyone like minded know how to discuss this issue with my ds or the school. I don't know how where to start.

Any advise would be great.

bath really - don't worry. If you keep on talking sense and reason at home, eventually all the religion will wear off. Children that age are very keen on faith and are easy to indoctrinate into believing. As they get older, they learn to question and think for themselves.

My DDs both went to a faith school - it was the better school and no, we did not need to lie about going to church to get in, in fact I made it very plain on both applications that we are a non-churchgoing and largely non-religious household).

DD1 started it off with the God stuff, and we used it as an opportunity to discuss what people believe in a range of ways - we never told her what to believe, just that there were a lot of different beliefs and non-beliefs. I recall DD telling me that I had to believe in God and getting quite fierce about it - I told her that no, it was a choice and that we were all free to believe or not, and that she and I both had a right to believe what we felt we should.

Fast forward to now, and both my children last year put 'No Religion' on their census forms. As long as you discuss openly at their level and don't force your won beliefs on your DCs, they will eventually make their own decisions. That may mean that they choose to have a faith, but it will not be because they have been spoonfed religion by a school.