Atheists. Its time to turn the spotlight on you.

[Guitarmasterx7]

First let's get this out of the way: Of course I wouldn't take my child to church. They use toys and games to brainwash kids early so they believe in god their whole life. Why do you think that going to church as a kid consisted of playing dodgeball and watching cartoons? Sure as hell wasn't to logically prove to you that there is an omnipotent super being.

Now that that's out of the way, how exactly does one "force atheism?" It's kind of a grey area. Forcing religion involves dragging your children to church, reading them the holy book, ect. "Forcing" Atheism involves doing... nothing. So if doing nothing involving religion is "Forcing" Atheism, yes, I would. Really the only point where the child would ask about god is if someone ELSE tries to force religion on them. So what would you say? Obvious answer would be "I don't know" but think of this from a child raising perspective. If you say "I dunno" and they say "there is a god and he has a giant playhouse in heaven full of candy" with a child's cognitive level, what do you think the child going to believe?

If my child says to me "this person said there was a god and ect." I would say, "well that person doesn't know that there is a god" and then they would ask "then why would they say it?" and I would say something on their level like (as an example, this is probably not exactly what i would do) clasping my hand and saying "If i say 'there's a piece of candy in my hand' do you believe me?'" they'll either say yes or no, and I'll say "well I don't, but you didn't know that when you guessed. God is like that. Noone knows if he's real or not, but someone a long time ago said he was. Some people believe that person, some people don't" If they ask me what I believe, I won't lie to them, but if they ask what they should believe I'll just say "whatever you think is real"

Touching on this

[HEADING=2]Its a child, it cannot choose its own religion. Stop saying that. It can when its a teen, but how many 5 year old converts do you know?[/HEADING]

My parents tried to raise me christian, and I've been an Atheist since second grade, but then again I was kind of a smart kid. Basically I didn't know I was actually supposed to think the bible was real, I classified it in the same category as dragon ball and pokemon, and then when i learned people actually believed it I was like "What? That's stupid!" and then when I learned that god was from the same book I stopped believing in him as well, and since noone could give me any tangible or logical proof that god was real, I stayed a nonbeliever (or more an agnostic at that point) from there on, because the more I thought about it the less likely any kind of god seemed, which brings me to be the atheist I am now. Not too relevant, but you say "cannot" as though it's a certainty, you even bolded it, largened it and made it blue.

 

[similar.squirrel]

I don't think that giving your children a critical world-view is the same as foisting your atheistic beliefs on them.
Tell them the facts as we now understand them to be [or will understand them to be then, as the case may be], let them be aware religion, of religious people and beliefs. But don't try to pass either off as an intrinsic truth.
Yes, true. A child cannot make complex decisions with regards to things like belief.
Which is why it's so disgusting when children are indoctrinated. It's like mind-rape.

 

[Skeleon]

Do Atheist parents have the right to force Atheism on their children?
Of course not. But like a religious parent, they'll influence their child in that direction anyway. Religion or the lack thereof stems mostly from the parents, after all.

How many of you will raise your child not to belive in a god?
I'll definitely raise my kid to question everything and think for themselves. If they feel the need for religion, I won't hinder them, but I certainly won't help with it.
Basically, I'll try to do what my parents did: They left it up to me to decide whether I wanted to join religion classes in school or not. Well, I wanted to because I wanted to learn about the different viewpoints. My parents didn't stop me. And when I finally decided to leave for ethics classes for good instead (basically a "philosophy class" for atheists and people fed up with religion classes), they didn't stop me either. In my opinion, the parents passively influence the child but the active decision should be up to the child him- or herself.

How many of you will raise your child with knowledge of God? (Without making fun of it while you teach it.)
Uhm, no. I'll probably tell my child about the various religions (including polytheistic and atheistic ones) but I definitely won't act like it's "knowledge" of any kind. It's belief. I'll certainly try not to make fun of it, but I might not be able to stop a snide remark or two.

How many of you will take your children to church?
When on holidays, visiting far away places? Always. Culture is important.
When at home and for a non-touristy purpose? Never.

How many of you will raise your children to make their own decission, like you had?
I will definitely try to.

How many think that your child will be Atheist?
The chances are higher than them being religious, no doubt about that. But in the end we'll have to wait and see.

 

[Beartrucci]

"Inspired" by the Right of parents to force their religion on their children thread. I feel its time to turn the tables.

Try answering the question.

Atheists

Do Atheist parents have the right to force Atheism on their children?

How many of you will raise your child not to belive in a god?

How many of you will raise your child with knowledge of God? (Without making fun of it while you teach it.)

How many of you will take your children to church?

How many of you will raise your children to make their own decission, like you had?

How many think that your child will be Atheist?

Let's be honest. No matter what you do, your child will almost certainly be Athist. Because thats the house hold they grew up in. So did you think you forced it on them?

*Btw, I do hate Religious threads, but Im kinda pissd at the one sidedness of that other thread*

Since people appear to be blind, or have never been children.

[HEADING=2]Its a child, it cannot choose its own religion. Stop saying that. It can when its a teen, but how many 5 year old converts do you know?[/HEADING]

Spoiler: My answers

I grew up in a traditionally Greek Orthodox family. Going to church semi regularly. I was never really that devout. My mother was, so I would go to church with her to please her. I started questioning around the age of 12 and a little bit lower. Today, I still call myself Christian, but my feelings about religion can be sumerised by "there could be". I don't buy into many things the church says. Like the wrongness of homosexuallity and the "sort of" denial of evolution. I belive their might be a god, but my opinion wavers twords oneside or the other constantly. The reason I do belive in god is because of all the great things I have recived through prayer. Like my brother being diagnosed with somethin curable rather than fatal, which I know is just medicin but I am still thankfull for. Latly, my opinion has been more "who cares". I belive in being a good person on earth, and belive that if their is a god I will be rewarded for being a good person, not for being devout.

Anyway, thats a ramble on me.

Do Atheist parents have the right to force Atheism on their children?

No but I still think a majority of their kids will be Atheists, because they grew up in a Atheist household. I will raise my children to be good people. My wife can make them religious.


How many of you will raise your child not to belive in a god?
As above

How many of you will raise your child with knowledge of God? (Without making fun of it while you teach it.)
I will teach my child the concept of god. To help him make his decission.

How many of you will take your children to church?
Not frequently. My wife can take them more

How many of you will raise your children to make their own decission, like you had?
I will raise them Christian. But focus on being a good person over just belief. Then they can choose

How many think that your child will be Atheist?
Maybe, the world is a ever growing frightening place. If its hard for me to stay devout. it will probably be harder for them.

Woah, reading that was a bit weird for me, seeing as everything you wrote about yourself is a lot like me and I would of written near the exact same answers you did for those questions you asked.

 

[stinknus]

First off, children have the ability to make they own choices no matter how old they are. but anyways. You say forcing them into atheism, when you will probably force your children into whatever sect you believe. just like my parents did with me. I will expose them to both sides (because of course I'll them see my parents their grandparents if they want to)they will be exposed to it by them. but I'll teach them to think critically and will show them the many red flags religion has. and from that they will come up with a conclusion on there own. I will probably openly mock religion while teaching them. because my parents openly mocked other religions when they were teaching me to be a good mormon little boy
and we're so one sided because hell its easy

 

[Seanchaidh]

Parents have not only a right but a duty to transmit what they think is important to their children. If that is a set of religious values, so be it. If it is a deep skepticism of religious beliefs, that's fine as well. (The second is what I would do.)

 

[DeathsAmbassador]

I'll raise my kids to make their own choices, I'll teach them my beliefs but I'll also try and teach them about other ideas whether or not I agree with them. I don't think that parents have a right to force their religion on their children, and even when they try it doesn't usually work.

 

[Canadian Fodder]

Do Atheist parents have the right to force Atheism on their children?
The same right that religious parents have to force their beliefs onto their children.

How many of you will raise your child not to believe in a god?
If he/she wants to, go right on ahead. I don't care about having religious battles with my offspring.

How many of you will raise your child with knowledge of God? (Without making fun of it while you teach it.)
Sure. I'll try to keep him/her open minded that there is no one true god.

How many of you will take your children to church?
Absolutely not.

How many of you will raise your children to make their own decisions, like you had?
Sure.

How many think that your child will be Atheist?
I hope more to be open minded but so long as he doesn't preach.

Let's be honest. No matter what you do, your child will almost certainly be Atheist. Because that's the house hold they grew up in. So did you think you forced it on them?
No, if they don't like it, they can still believe in something else and I would work around it. However that last thing I would do wold be to be ignorant of someone else beliefs.

 

[Corpse XxX]

I will raise my kids Atheists..

Cause god does not exists and therefor cannot tell my kids that he/she does, that would be lying..

Religion is the root of all evil, it only seperates people and makes them go to war with each other..

 

[El Poncho]

Well my mum and dad didn't really teach me about religon, I don't even remember going to church. My school mentioned most of the big religous dates but since they were replaced with presents and chocolate eggs, well religon hasn't been a big part of my life. So I will probably do the same. I will let it know the concept of God and some stories and if they seem to like it I will give them a bible.

 

[aruki]

That is a mystery along with why God created humans even though he knew they were going to fall into sin and he would have to sacifrice his son. But then "God's way are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts" You forget about the incredible gap between our intelligence and mental capacity and God's.

Basically, we can't understand because we're too weak and feeble. But just think, God went ahead depite knowing that so many of the human race would never acknowledge him, that 's some pretty awesome love for us.

Haha yeah, Just like how he made people that he knew would be sexually attracted to the same gender, but then demanding that it be a sin and wrong, thats some mean and backstabbing love right there, "Hey you like this don't you? yeah? Well you can't have it, ner ner ne ner ner!"

 

[Daveman]

My Dad is an atheist my Mum is probably agnostic. My grandfather is a minister though and none of his kids still go to church except at christmas so I don't buy that "your parents taught you that so that's what you'll believe".

I am an atheist for the most part. I will teach my kids about religion and science and I'm sure, because they're my kid and probably very similar to me, they'll end up believing the same thing as me.

I will not take them to church except at christmas because that's really more of a cultural thing than a religious event for me. I will not let anyone try to indoctrinate them. They will make up their own mind. If they end up christian or whatever I will be disappointed but will not stop them. I will however tease the fuck out of them.

 

[Nickolai77]

I believe parents should raise their children to be "good" i.e- teach them morality and other things that parents teach children (how to read, swim, ride a bike etc) Should parents raise their kids to believe there same religious (and indeed, political) beliefs?

Personally, I am going to teach these hypotheoretical children of mine, as yet unborn, about religion, God and politics (as they are in the same league in terms of controversy) in an objective manner. If the child asks for my opinion, i will merely say what i believe, but i will leave it up to them if to buy it or not.

I don't mind if Athiests or Christians wish to raise there children in their respective beliefs- i think this is one of those things which are left to individuals to decide for themselves.

I would probably end up taking kids to church for a few family occasions, such as say a christening for the child of a friend or relative, or maybe at Christmas. In the UK these day's going to church is largely done for traditions sake. I don't mind going to church to have the odd sing-a-long at Christmas, if i go to the protestant one (I was raised Catholic, but these days it doesn't matter) i may bump into a few friends or relatives- half of them not religious either XD

I expect he would probably be an Atheist, but he or she may decide to become a Christian or a Muslim or whatever- it's up to them. If they are an atheist, i would not think i have forced it on them- i would have taught them about Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, as well as the old viking, Roman, Greek and Celtic Gods. Of course, my main focus would be on Christianity, and the classical and Nordic God's due to their influence on Western Civilisation.

I don't really know what the OP is trying to prove here- some Athists intend to raise there kids as Atheists, some have chose not too. So what's your point?

My parents tried to raise me christian, and I've been an Atheist since second grade, but then again I was kind of a smart kid. Basically I didn't know I was actually supposed to think the bible was real, I classified it in the same category as dragon ball and pokemon, and then when i learned people actually believed it I was like "What? That's stupid!" and then when I learned that god was from the same book I stopped believing in him as well, and since noone could give me any tangible or logical proof that god was real, I stayed a nonbeliever (or more an agnostic at that point) from there on, because the more I thought about it the less likely any kind of god seemed, which brings me to be the atheist I am now. Not too relevant, but you say "cannot" as though it's a certainty, you even bolded it, largened it and made it blue.

Your comparison of the Bible towards Pokemon and dragon ball made me laugh

For me, i believed the songs and the bible stories until i was about eight. By then i suppose children are getting an idea of what is "ordinary" and what is "not ordinary". Jesus walking on water, resurrecting the dead, and coming back to life is "not ordinary". I knew that "not ordinary" stuff was not real. In the same way dragons, time machines, talking dogs and magic wands are not real, and fiction. To prove something "not ordinary" you needed a lot of strong evidence, and back then and even today, i say there is no evidence for Gods existence. I soon quickly realised that the school and my mother was trying to make me believe otherwise, and this annoyed me no end. I used to make my own rude parody versions of the hymns we sang- nearly got caught a few times lol. I would also strongly protest being taken to church by my mother, it caused a few arguments. When i was in my early teens i had one hell of a grudge against religion.

Then when i was around sixteen my mother left me alone regarding religion, regarding me as old enough to decide for myself. By then i was in a secondary-comprehensive school, which teaches in a secular manner. In this non-religious environment, the hatred within me eased, now i found religion was not being forced into me. I took up philosophy, and with increasing maturity and wisdom i accepted that people had a right to there own beliefs, as long as they don't force it on me or harm others.

That is why i am an atheist, it may be of interest to theist readers, and i imagine many atheists here could probably relate to my tale.

 

[anNIALLator]

If I have children, I'll encourage them to be skeptical but I won't plainly tell them to be atheists. I would certainly not take them to church.

 

[Sulu]

I grew up having to sing those rediculous hymns at my primary school, we then had to pray as well before listening to a religious tale. It wasn't even a religious school!
I made up my mind to be atheist - nobody forced me - but the school tipped me over the edge. It was like they were trying to force me to believe in a magical invisible man in the sky who is watching me whenever I fap or take a dump. After hearing the bible being read I realised what an ass Jesus really was, he went into a market and kicked everyone's stalls over and then proceeded to tell everyone that he was the son of the magical sky man and everyone should follow him and his arrogant ways. I have a feeling he was crucified because of how damn annoying he was

Truth be told OP, the bible forced athiesm on me.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

-snip-...sorry

Although I'm technically Agnostic, I feel I can answer these.


Do Atheist parents have the right to force Atheism on their children?
Thinking about it, I don't really think they do. Children have rights and they can believe what they want, within reason of course.

How many of you will raise your child not to belive in a god?
I personally won't raise my child telling him/her that there's a god, I'll respect his/her right to believe what they want to, however I won't let any of my family try to make him/her Christian. A small part of my family is quite religious and they're not meddling with my kids heads.

How many of you will raise your child with knowledge of God? (Without making fun of it while you teach it.)
Knowledge, yes. Belief, only if they choose. It isn't important for your children to follow a religion. It is important, however, that they understand these beliefs that other people might have.

How many of you will take your children to church?
Hell no.

How many of you will raise your children to make their own decission, like you had?
Yes, definitely this, yes.

How many think that your child will be Atheist?
If my children take after me then they probably will be Athiest, or at least Agnostic.

 

[Biek]

I'll raise my kid the way my parents raised me.

With no emphasis on religion at all.

My kids will learn about other religions and cultures without me pushing anything on them.

That is how it should be, how many Christians can say that?

Same here.

My parents never spoke of religion or practised it. But I did go to a catholic elementary school and went to church with the whole class every few months. Ive been brought up to look at the logic of things, wich is the bane of any religion imo.

I also stopped believing in santaclaus after finding solid evidence that the one visiting school was fake.

 

[Aardvark Soup]

Well, I wasn't raised religious and, except for my grandparents and a few kids in my preschool class, almost everyone in my enviroment was nontheistic as well. If I would suddenly want to become a member of a certain religion I highly doubt my parents would mind, but I never really felt the urge to. I also don't feel like I'm really raised as an atheist, my parents basically explained that some people believe in God and some people don't, and they happened to belong to the latter category. But they never explicitely told me that God did not exist.

 

[WolfmanNougat]

This is, of course, assuming that athiests force their views on other people. In which case, neither athiests or theists are any better than each other.

 

[gavinator93]

If i do have kids chances are, that i wont force them to become atheist but i will encourage it, but teach them not to mock other people belive and have an open mind and to just be a good peson all round.

My mum did take me to church as a smaller child, mainly to get me into my chrisian school that has an open mind about religion and doesnt force it on anybody, and just asks that you respect other peoples religion. I started to question religion when i was around 7 or 8 and began to actually learn the concept of it, it was also the time i stared an interest in science, and i chose to be atheist and reinforced that in secondary school when i learned more.

If the system for getting into my old school changes by the time i have kids, chances are ill try and send them there because they teach about all sorts of religions in an unbiased way and can help them make their own choice.

If they pick a religion i wont be overjoyed but that would be their choice and i have no right to try and change that.