(Untitled)

[shreena]

Shreena's Question Of the Day..

If a child asked you "Do you believe in God?" and you knew that you held a view contrary to their parents, how would you answer their question and why?

Not arising from a real life situation, just spotted a discussion of it elsewhere.

Comments

[cuthbertcross]

I think a simple "I don't but some people do" or " I do but some people don't" covers it nicely.
If they are old enough to ask the question they deserve to hear the answer IMHO.

[yiskah]

Yes, this exactly.

[shreena]

I agree. But quite a number of people in the discussion I saw seemed to feel that it was wrong to contradict the parents.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=542772

Me, I guess, I just don't believe that it's either realistic or desirable to suppose that parents are going to be the only people interacting with their children.

[pseudomonas]

I don't think it's contradicting them to be different from them. I'd not tell a (young) child directly that their parents were wrong (well, not without OKing it with the parents).

[pseudomonas]

I'd be a bit stuck if the child asked me a question that implied that they had no idea that people might not take for granted the existence of a God. It would depend how mature they were and how well I knew them, but I think in at least some circumstances I'd be happy introducing them to the idea that not everyone in the world believes in a god - that's hardly a controversial statement.

[ailbhe]

Oh, you're definitely better off *deliberately lying to a child* than risking contradicting their parents. Yeah.

(I refuse to click on that link; if someone on the internet is wrong at me today I would React).