|
Me and the lady are agnostic apatheists.
We've explained to our daughter (she's 4) that there are some folks who think Jesus was/is really special, and that these people's beliefs deserve a certain amount of respect. And we've also explained to her that we don't necessarily feel the same way about Jesus. When she gets old enough to be able to have more in-depth conversations about the nature of proof, I expect we'll have some more comprehensive conversations about the matter. She's free to make up her mind however she likes, as long as she doesn't decide to join a cult like scientology.
We do celebrate all the US Christian holidays, but we do so more in the spirit that they provide a good excuse to see people we don't see all that often. She thinks easter is about getting together with her cousins to find candy filled eggs, and she thinks that Christmas is about getting together with her cousins to get toys. We didn't delude her with Santa either; we explained him away the same way we explained Jesus.
As for the community provided by church, being the son of a preacher man, I've spent about a third of my life in the company of church communities. I think that like most communities, their salutary value really depends on the specifics of the community.
My family is supportive of our choices with respect to religion. The preacher man, along with most of the rest of the family, isn't the fire and brimstone type and the folks who are fire and brimstoney seem to know better than to start some shit.
|