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Originally Posted by vanblah
I don't need the Bible or any other religious dogma to teach morals or right from wrong. My concern lies mainly in making sure she has a well-rounded basis for when she makes the choice to be religious, atheist or agnostic. I can not give that to her.
As for 5-years-old being too young for religion, I WHOLE-HEARTEDLY agree with you, although it's somewhat of a generalization. However, two of her best friends (both 5) consistently spout rhetoric at her OR WORSE.
For instance, she and a friend were coloring one day. My daughter asked her friend for the blue crayon. Her friend responded with:
"Jesus doesn't want you to have the blue crayon."
What the fuck is that? I'm not making it up. This kid was not making a joke. She was very serious about it. My daughter said, "What?" (actually she said, "Hunh?" which is something that we're working on but that's a different story). The little girl said it again. This is EXACTLY what happens when a 5-year-old is "indoctrinated" into ANY religion.
I have many other examples of these kinds of dialogs. The bottom line is, when my daughter asks me to explain these things I find myself unable to.
So Will, I agree with you about the age thing. I just don't know what to do. The questions are getting harder for me to explain or circumvent. She's persistent. Questions are a good thing. I don't want to become frustrated and discourage the questions.
What if the grandparents are agnostic/atheist too? My parents are atheist. My in-laws are smart enough to mind their own business about religion and politics in my house (as am I in theirs).
My wife is agnostic.
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Unfortunately, while I agree with Will about 5 being too young to arbitrarily send to a church or religious center, your statement above is exactly why 5 ISN'T too young. Children in ANY type of public location are going to be exposed to all forms of religious attitudes. This is our melting pot of religion.
I am Baptist, and have my own beliefs, but I am VERY happy that I can accept ANY other persons religious beliefs as their own, without bias or feeling of "you are crazy!" So I feel that I can possibly offer some advice.
As a background, as I said, I am Baptist, but I do not attend church on a regular basis. I don't like the way church tries to force this stuff down your throat, and prefer a person to develop their OWN opinions, as it seems that you are doing, and I applaud you.
Not may parents are willing to let their own child develop their OWN opinion. So here is my advice:
Consider taking your child to a non-denominational church. There are MANY of them out there, and they don't preach Catholic, Baptist, or any other specific religion. They tend to teach more specifics on the Bible itself. Granted the Bible IS more specificly Christian, but your statement of taking her to Bible School leads me to believe that you are interested in her learning SOMETHING of it. YOU are of course old enough to disagree or agree with what is being said, and since YOU take her there, YOU can also talk to her about it later, and answer questions she might have. THAT way, she is learning information from the person she is going to have the most faith in...YOU and your wife.
Face it, the public school systems are still predominantly Christian-based in their moral standings, and it would be better for her to learn about things from you and your wife, than by the dozens of opinions she might hear from in school! There is nothing wrong with teaching her you OR your wife's opinions on religion. That is what you are there for, to help her learn different things, and develop her OWN opinion. It is an ongoing battle to stay on the fence-post as you appear to be doing, and trying to not FORCE her into believing in only your opinion...Again I applaud you!!!!
