(Untitled)

[mljordan]

What would your reaction be if your child announced to you that s/he was an atheist? WHY?

Comments

[misslanchie]

I would be a little upset, considering that goes against the way I plan to raise my children and I would probably feel like I did something wrong if they went against the beliefs they had been raised with.

[haddassah]

I raised my daughters Jewish, but one of them is now Athiest. She is strong in her beliefs, respects my husband and myself and our beliefs and is a good person with a good heart. I think that is a success in itself.

[misslanchie]

And I would agree with you! I've had the unfortunate experience, however, of meeting too many (usually teen) Athiests who are fond of belittling religion and religious people, and I would not want my child to be like that.

[aerynmoo]

IAWTC

[haddassah]

Well, to be honest, my daughter is 20. On the other hand, I have met a hell of alot of Christians who are fond of telling me that I am going to hell for not "accepting" Jesus as my saviour. I have learned, in my lifetime, that a belief in G-d or lack thereof rarely has anything to do with whether or not someone is a "good" person.

[misslanchie]

Then she's wise beyond her years.
Personally, as a Christian, I cannot STAND people like that, because it's completely ignoring the fact that the Jewish people are the chosen people and have their own deal with the Lord that has nothing to do with the Christian faith.
That is very true. Mostly I just want my children to be good people.

[haddassah]

I still have a nasty taste in my mouth from when my dad was dying. It was on the last day he was alive and we were gathered around his bed. By this time, my dad had left the Catholic Church and had joined a different denomination. he was literally dying and I was holding his hand, saying my last goodbyes. I had his priest standing on the other side of the bed telling me that I needed to accept Jesus right then and there or I would never see my dad in the afterlife. Oh, did I mention that I was pregnant as a surrogate at the time?

[misslanchie]

Wow. Oh my gosh. That's horrible, I feel so bad for you for experiencing that. That priest was both insensitive and an idiot.

[haddassah]

Yep.

[gothayesd51708]

Same here!

[yesaffirmative]

Hell, I'm raising my family atheist and I wouldn't want my kids to be like that.

[misshapen_fro]

I think a lot of kids just go through a phase like that. If they're only saying they're atheist to bash religion/religious people, I wouldn't even automatically assume that they've completely given up believing in God, just that they're going through a really obnoxious phase right now. If they started talking about how they don't believe in God and this is why, followed by some sort of reasoning, then I would assume that my kid is probably atheist. In my experience, most of the ones that get all obnoxiously anti-religion in their teen years return to their faith eventually.

[muliebrity]

I wish my mom thought more like you. I'm in my mid-20s and she still hopes that it's just a phase (and she thinks I'm agnostic, rather than atheist).

[haddassah]

I was raised by a Catholic father and a Jewish mother. They instilled in me a strong sense of respect for the beliefs of others.

[maylea_moon]

i hope my kids learn the same. my husband is VERY atheist, i'm catholic but i rarely go to church or anything. i still believe in the religion though. if we can love eachother and accept one another despite our differences in belief, i hope that teaches our kids to respect people of different beliefs than them.

[haddassah]

To be honest, I think my daughter has moved from Atheist to Agnostic, but we don't discuss religion when we chat on the phone, there are more important things to discuss.