RE: Last night my 10-year old daughter said that she did not believe in God.
December 24, 2021 at 10:31 pm
(This post was last modified: December 24, 2021 at 10:31 pm by vulcanlogician.)
(December 23, 2021 at 9:35 am)The Grand Nudger Wrote:(December 22, 2021 at 7:00 pm)vulcanlogician Wrote: Nice. I've always thought playing neutral was the best strategy. If your kiddo ends up being an atheist, it's best that she arrived there through her own questions and reasoning.Children are unlikely to come up with the dead jew on a stick all on their own. Without some figure of authority or credibility asserting as much, it's probably not accurate to call the situation neutral. That's how I ended up an atheist too, in all likelihood. I was introduced to too many stories without overt or implicit confirmation of any given story, so they've always been and remain stories. The faithful know this, which is why they very openly stress that a believer ought to tell their kids about christ early and often - otherwise the faithful parent is manufacturing the unfaithful.
Just my two cents.
Of course no one is going to come up with Christianity with no indoctrination whatsoever. I've always felt that lended atheism an air of credibility that religion doesn't have.
But, at the same time, lots of stories flying around. Turns out, some kids, raised by atheists may come to believe, via social transmission or they just pick up the holy book and it turns out that it speaks to them. I wanna say that's fine. I think atheism is "better than" needing indoctrination to propagate itself. "Playing neutral" is not just a good idea for god beliefs, IMO. It's the best policy for any non-basic belief about which the child should make up her own mind. God-beliefs just fit the bill nicely here.
For instance, I wouldn't raise my kids to be hard incompatibilists (even though that's what I am). I'd allow them to choose freely whether they accept the theory or not.
