Brief intro: I'm a married mama of four boys - 2 are adults and I have twin toddlers as well. My husband is, and comes from a large family of, devout ECLA Lutherans. My experience has been that they are in general lovely, sincere, giving, accepting, non-proselytizing folks. Even my husband hasn't tried to convert me.
My oldest son is an atheist, like me.
My second son is a Baha'i, as I used to be.
My twins haven't yet been indoctrinated.
I am a completely non-activist as religion goes. I don't wear a sign that says "atheist" but I say I am if someone asks. I refuse to debate it.
I would love to communicate with other parents/folks in a similar position.
Here's my current thing...
A couple of weeks ago my twins started going to a morning preschool a couple of days a week. DH and I went to their harvest celebration on Friday. The children apparently always say a blessing before they eat. I thought it was lovely - something along the lines of thanking the sun and the earth for the bounty, yadda yadda. It was simple and sweet and (I thought) non-offensive to anyone of any religion or notreligion.
That evening I was talking to DH about it because I like the idea of taking a moment before a meal to think about where it came from and to be thankful for it. Obviously I'm not going to do a religious blessing though, so I told him I thought theirs was a nice compromise.
He balked. He said it was clearly a pagan blessing, not just something neutral. He said that if you're thanking, you're thanking someone or something. That blessing thanked the sun and moon or whatever in lieu of thanking the creator of the sun etc. Sigh.
So I'd like to come up with some sort of short, child-friendly blessing we can say that reminds all of us that the food didn't just magically appear on our plates but that doesn't involve a deity. Ideas?
I saw this somewhere and liked it:
For the meal we are about to eat,
for those who made it possible,
and for those with whom we are about to share it,
we are thankful.
My oldest son is an atheist, like me.
My second son is a Baha'i, as I used to be.
My twins haven't yet been indoctrinated.
I am a completely non-activist as religion goes. I don't wear a sign that says "atheist" but I say I am if someone asks. I refuse to debate it.
I would love to communicate with other parents/folks in a similar position.
Here's my current thing...
A couple of weeks ago my twins started going to a morning preschool a couple of days a week. DH and I went to their harvest celebration on Friday. The children apparently always say a blessing before they eat. I thought it was lovely - something along the lines of thanking the sun and the earth for the bounty, yadda yadda. It was simple and sweet and (I thought) non-offensive to anyone of any religion or notreligion.
That evening I was talking to DH about it because I like the idea of taking a moment before a meal to think about where it came from and to be thankful for it. Obviously I'm not going to do a religious blessing though, so I told him I thought theirs was a nice compromise.
He balked. He said it was clearly a pagan blessing, not just something neutral. He said that if you're thanking, you're thanking someone or something. That blessing thanked the sun and moon or whatever in lieu of thanking the creator of the sun etc. Sigh.
So I'd like to come up with some sort of short, child-friendly blessing we can say that reminds all of us that the food didn't just magically appear on our plates but that doesn't involve a deity. Ideas?
I saw this somewhere and liked it:
For the meal we are about to eat,
for those who made it possible,
and for those with whom we are about to share it,
we are thankful.
