Raising a child religiously neutral

[pocaracas]

Show her: this is santa, this is a unicorn, this is a dragon, this is a fairy... and so on...
If you don't behave, father christmas will not bring you presents.
The tooth fairy will only give you something for your tooth if you don't listen to mommy when she goes on about god...

[diego]

My wife is a Catholic; I an atheist.
We just have a baby. Before the birth of our baby, my wife and I agreed that neither one of us would influence the baby regarding religion In other words, let the baby decides when she's old enough and think for herself.
but my wife has already broken our agreement a few times and start forcing god onto our baby . what do you think i should do? i don't want to argue with my wife about religion because neither one of us could persuade the other to abandon their religious views. On the other hand, i can't let her brainwash the baby at such early age.
thanks for your time
diego

Baby... you keep using that word.
I have no memory whatsoever of what happened to me before the age of 5... even after that and up to ~10 everything is very faded.

If you don't want to stir up the cauldron, just let her do what she likes doing and you do what you like to do.
In the end, you'll hear questions like the ones my kids pose:
- Why don't you pray?
- What would make you believe in J.C.?
etc...

Answer truthfully (even if your wife is listening.. heck, she brought it on herself).
The seeds of doubting the god story are planted... no need for anything else.... real life takes care of it.

thank you for your response.
I wish what you said is true. But i'm fearful that brainwashing at an early age is irreversible... my wife is a living proof.

---

Remind your wife that you had an agreement, and also remind her that your child is a human being with a mind of her own and a right ro religious freedom and that pushing a religion on her at such a vulnerable age is a direct infringement of that right.

Or just take the route with less arguments and make that kid smart enough to figure shit out for herself. Read her lots of books, give her baby books to play with, show her the moon and stars at night and tell her about what they are. Take her to museums on the weekends when she's big enough to be aware of what's around her. Make her a curious little girl and she'll never be religious.

thank you for your response.
i have reminded my wife about the agreement between us, but... it didn't stick.
i plan to do exactly what you said about the 'less arguments' route whether my wife breached the agreement or not.

---

Knowing what I know about Catholic doctrine I would think it's going to be damn near impossible to keep her from influencing your child. I don't know why she would even agree to it in the first place. Maybe just to appease you?

thanks for your response.
the longer i live with my wife the more i realize that she can reverse, modify, morph any agreements between us.

[missingnocchi]

You don't need to be fearful of that. In my experience, most atheists are formerly religious. I was brainwashed for 15 years, but when I became an atheist, I never looked back. That's not to say that you shouldn't be wary; after all, most Christians stay for life.

[pocaracas]

When she's a bit older, you can tell her that all gods are made up.
Use examples, like the Egyptians and their pyramids.

[Minimalist]

Let's see..... you could follow this advice...

An Islamic 'marriage guide' book has sparked outrage - by advising men on the best ways to beat their wives.

A Gift For Muslim Couple tells husbands that they should beat their wives with 'hand or stick or pull her by the ears'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...stick.html

Of course, it would probably be better if you were a member of the religion of "peace" to do this. That way, when the cops arrest you you'd be free to claim religious "persecution."

[Brakeman]

Well my wife held on to her god for a long time, but she's realizes deep inside that I am right now. I used to bug her by praying to Spongebob at the diner table for the kids' benefit and tell the kids the nastier parts of the bible. They loved the smiting of Uzzah and the human sacrifice of Jephthah. The discrimination against ugly people for the priests was pretty good too.

Then let them watch stuff like this and laugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3be9wCAwIM