Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nelson on August 14, 2011 at 8:51am

Well, I might ask, which age old question, but then there are no answers to be found in faith. As Richard Dawkins has pointed out, faith doesn't provide you with answers, it just stops you asking the questions.
As for what to teach kids, that's easy. Teach them to be critical thinkers. Once they have that skill, they'll be armed to spot nonsense on their own.

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Permalink Reply by Nate on August 14, 2011 at 9:54am

I completely agree, Just teach them Facts and how to think on their own.  They don't need Santa, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy, so why Jesus or any other deity?

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Permalink Reply by Great Dane on August 14, 2011 at 11:22am

Actually, to make the kids good atheists teach them all about Santa!

When I was a kid I was first introduced to Santa and believed in this romantic/commercial supernatural story. Eventually I realised that there was no such thing as Santa. Later on when I was introduced to the concept of God I figured there was no reason to believe in such nonsense - just like the concept of Santa.

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Permalink Reply by Nate on August 15, 2011 at 12:30am

Haha good point! ^_^

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Permalink Reply by Aiken Drums Sister on August 15, 2011 at 12:26am

Jim:Age old questions such as "why are we here?" or "what is the purpose of life?" will probably never be resolved by religion or science.

I disagree.  I think science says we are here to make more of us.  A chicken is an egg's way of making another egg, so to speak.  Our genetics, all genetics, is simply to make more of the same genetics, mutations notwithstanding.  Same answer for What is the Purpose of Life.  Life makes life, even if it's really difficult.  No higher purpose.  I don't think you can find any place on the surface of the Earth where you can't find life.  Any higher purpose than procreation is our own doing, often laudable, more often not.

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Permalink Reply by Jacob on August 14, 2011 at 9:25pm

I think, when I have kids I'll let them find out about religion if they want to, but I will let them know I'm an atheist.

I really don't get the idea of taking kids to church so they can make their own informed decision, to truly do that you'd have to expose them to every religion, and once you've done that why not show them some of the local cults?

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Permalink Reply by Ron V on August 14, 2011 at 10:26pm

Faith? Is faith anything more than belief in something without evidence? Why should we expect or seek answers from "faith."

As far as some questions go -

http://atheism.about.com/od/philosophyofscience/p/ScienceSuperior.htm

 

Teach children science- it will help them and the world solve more problems (instead of praying about them and wasting their time).

 

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Permalink Reply by Kyle Wilkins on August 14, 2011 at 11:27pm

I went to a Catholic grade and high school. Not because my parents are/were die hard bible thumpers, but because in my area the private school system was far superior to the public school system. I grew up as a Catholic and in grade school they had religion classes focused on my faith. In high school they highly encouraged you to challenge your faith (Catholic mind you). They even had a required World Religions class. This was by far the best class I have had in my whole schooling career. That class had armed me with a lot of knowledge of several religions. I plan on letting my children decide for their own. I will want them to have the same knowledge I do of several different religions and Atheism, so when they are old enough to make that decision they will know they made the correct one and not be intolerant to others for not sharing in their beliefs.

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Permalink Reply by Dustin on August 14, 2011 at 11:57pm

Just me,  but I think telling your children about santa and leading them on is flat out lying to them.  I know I am not going to tell them about santa or the tooth fairy.  I'll teach them about reality and politics , critical thinking, social and physical sciences. 

 

I don't think it's possible to indoctrinate because you need to instill fear and instill the capacity to not question what you tell your children under any circumstances.  I don't think that's possible for secularists to do.

 

If you don't believe in Evolution you'll go to hell and burn for eternity ... How sick would that be?  All you need to do is present the evidence and allow them to ask questions!

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Permalink Reply by Amy L. Cook on August 19, 2011 at 11:05pm

Good luck hiding santa from your kids...

just sayin'...

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Permalink Reply by Dustin on August 19, 2011 at 11:15pm

Hiding santa? Who said anything about Hiding him? Of course they are going to see santa at the mall and hear from it from kids in school and movies around Christmas time. But they'll know it's not real!

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Permalink Reply by Jimmy Boy on August 15, 2011 at 3:17am

Most of the age old questions are canards in their own right.  They present a lie within the question.  So the question, "why are we here?" presupposes (and what a massive presupposition) that there is a reason for us being here.  It's an easy lie - but with my kids I try to focus on understanding the question they are being asked, prior to thinking about answering it.  Is the question a trick?  The fact that a question can be posed doesn't make it a reasonable premise.  If they can get that, fantastic: they have the key tool needed to face the world, it's shamans and charlatans.

Interestingly, my little 9 year old is doing better than my 12 year old.

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