My Son want's a God

[Story]

A hypothetical chat conversation:

acheron: Hey mary my son wants a god I dont know what to do.

maryf: Oh... it shouldn't really be a problem.

acheron: It is! I really don't like them =/

maryf: He might grow out of it eventually, dont worry about it. My daughter was the same once.

acheron: Yeah but I don't want it in my house! I feel like he's going to go for one of the vicious scary ones!

maryf: =/ You shouldn't let this bother you so much, it'll be fine.

acheron: They're dangerous!

maryf: They're not! they can be peaceful and pretty pleasant. It's a good experience.

acheron: Yeah... it's just I have bad personal experiences and stuff and it just reminds me of them and I think the same thing will happen to him.

maryf: I suppose that can be disconcerting, yes, but it's his choice. You can't stop him in the end.

acheron: I could... I am his father.

maryf: No you can't! In the end it's his choice.

acheron: How so...? I'd be paying for it in the end.

maryf: You can't stop his thoughts and feelings about it.

acheron: Yeah... I guess so. I feel like if I keep denying it, he'll forget after a while.

maryf: You can't restrict him, he'll just do it later or do it behind your back. People do that ALL the time against their parents knowledge.

acheron: Wtf.... seriously?

maryf: Yes!

acheron: Damn... okay. I guess I'll just let him.

maryf: Which one is he interested in btw?

acheron: Ah... I don't even know. I think he likes a couple different breeds but he won't say.

maryf: Breeds lol.. that's a way to put it.

acheron: Yeah?

maryf: Yeah... I usually call them flavours.

acheron: Why......?

maryf: Because people choose the different types subjectively, just like flavours ^^

acheron: It's kind of weird to call a dog a flavour though

maryf: A dog?

acheron: Yeah... well... the different breeds.

maryf: Breeds of dog?

acheron: Yeah... my son wants a dog?

maryf: ......

acheron: Mary?


acheron: Mary, you there?


acheron: Mary...

 

[lrkun]

Am I right in saying that you're talking about the freedom to think about one idea or concept without being hindered by parents or guidance by his or her peers? or it is when people talk about a certain concept and one thinks he hears it correctly while the other is actually saying another thing, as when you call god a dog or a dog a god.

 

[Story]

Both actually ^^

It's just a hypothetical conversation about dogs and gods. Although the two words are confused, the conversation continues and all the objections for dogs are taken to apply to gods, but it also raises the dilemma parents face when raising children and how a child's thoughts are free of their parents. The point is that as an atheist it would not mean any more or less to have your child favour a particular kind of god and bring into your home or favour a particular breed of dog and do the same. The only problem would be your opinion of dogs or gods.

 

[lrkun]

Both actually ^^

It's just a hypothetical conversation about dogs and gods. Although the two words are confused, the conversation continues and all the objections for dogs are taken to apply to gods, but it also raises the dilemma parents face when raising children and how a child's thoughts are free of their parents. The point is that as an atheist it would not mean any more or less to have your child favour a particular kind of god and bring into your home or favour a particular breed of dog and do the same. The only problem would be your opinion of dogs or gods.

Let's assume that there is no law granting that a parent has the right to enforce a certain religion to a child who has yet to be emancipated, because if there is, we'll have a problem with the legalities of the topic's concept.

So if a child wishes to become a christian, the atheist parent should allow the child to explore with/without instructing him or her with regard to the facts? If yes, why? If no, Why?

Supposing we flip the coin, if a child wishes to become an atheist, the christian parent should allow the child to explore with/without instructing him or her with regard to the facts? If yes, why? If no, why?

In both cases, my opinion is that I will allow the child to explore either atheism or the christian religion, provided that he or she is willing to listen to my side of the coin of which he or she will be able to decide on whether atheism/theistic religion is for him or her, because if the child has no reference point to compare, he or she can't consciously know which of the two is better. However, if the child really wishes to pursue a certain belief, and if this is detrimental to his or her existence, I will intervene provided he or she isn't 21. By then, I'll give him or her the benefit of the doubt where she can be free from my clutches and live independently.

 

[Story]

To be honest, I have no idea what I'd do. I haven't really made up my mind. I think it's a really daft idea to leave the decision of what makes sense and not to a child as most religious beliefs actually appeal to the kind of thoughts you have at a young age and can tend to stifle your progress of critical thought. However, I'm not sure that I'd intervene if my child actually wanted a religion due to peer pressure or some other external influence. I mean, I'd definitely object as subtly as I could and ask them a lot of questions, but the relationship between myself and my child would be more important to me than their intellectual progress and deeds.

 

[nasher168]

I have a sort of balance to strike like that with my younger brother. When he was five he would come home and talk about Jesus thanks to the vicar going into assemblies in his school. I would sort of subtly tell him it's not necessarily true whilst making my own position clear enough ("But you won't get into heaven!"). The next thing I know, a couple of years later he says he doesn't believe in God, to which I sort of get an urge to say "you're too young to come out one way or the other". The thing is that I myself fond the idea ridiculous at his age, probably from my Dad's influence.

I don't want to make him go one way or the other without applying any thought to it. But if I don't speak up, my parents are too aggressively neutral about religion when it comes to children nowadays to say anything so the only thing he would hear would be from the vicar which won't do at all. And yet I don't want him to be atheist just because his family are. It should be an informed thing, an exercise in critical thinking.

I guess now that he's got a basic framework and knows not to trust everything people say (including from me, I've made that clear) he'll be able to think about it more deeply in his teens. I was only a rationalist atheist from about 14 years old, when I came across venomfangX on youtube and gave it more thought than I ever had before from the shock of seeing what religion was really like in other countries.

 

[Andiferous]

I know what I would do but... just to be clear...

Acheron and Maryf never had this conversation?

 

[Story]

Nasher, I'm going through something very similar right now with my brother, but he's 20 years old and very intelligent T.T

So yeah... not similar at all.

I know what I would do but... just to be clear...

Acheron and Maryf never had this conversation?

Haha ^^

Maryf and Acheron only inspired one half of the conversation, I assure you. The other side is based off myself.