A Weird Post-Religion Thing, Maybe Help?

[cocunningham]

Well for a number of reasons.  First being atheist I do not believe in a God or afterlife so i do not worry about my child being damned for worshiping a false god.  So I have no problem with my children believing whatever they want as long as they don't use those beliefs as justification to harm another physically or emotionally.

Second I was raised Christian and came to my own theories on my own following evidence. Would it not make sense for them to learn the principals of religions and when they have doubts and questions encourage them to seek the answer on their own.   As I said before I don't have a problem with religion as long as it's not a media used to cause suffering or personal gain.  I just want to instill in them the strength to challenge the status quo and find their own path wherever it leads them.

Third and this is where I feel like I'm being selfish.   My wife as a rare untreatable condition where her immune system will attack her organs.  It is not unlikely my wife may die when my children are young.  And if I  raise them atheist I will tell them that while everything that made up their mother still is and always will be in some form, but the organs that made up her consciousness have ceased to function so in that sense she had ceased to exist.  The idea of that conversation scares the hell out of me.  I would much rather tell them she was in heaven and would watch over them at last until they were old enough to cope a little better.

But I still have not made a decision.   Those are just the reasons I'm considering it.

No, but you are wasting their time by telling them to believe in something that doesn't exist and you are violating their trust by lying to them.  The whole point of being a parent is to instruct your child how the world works.  As much as  it's a shame that they might not have their mother for long, do you want to add to that the fact that their father lied to them as well?
I know what my answer would be.

Well to wasting their time I don't see how teaching them one view point would do so. If I taught them my theories on the origination of life or the source of matter I could be teaching them just as many fallacies as are present in any religion as our depth of knowledge is inadequate to properly run an experiment at this time. So as to teaching them how the world works there is so much Idon't know to truly do that.

To your point about lying to them though I think you are right on point. I would be lying if I presented myself as Christian and when they found the truth they would likely respond with anger and justifiably so.

I unfortunately don't have a good example to follow. I only know two athiests personally. One raised their children Christian as their mother was Christian and it was important to her they learn it prior to making a decision. The difference in his case he was always honest about his opinions. The children are in their teens and are well adjusted generous youths. I have another who's son is much younger (only turned 10 a couple months ago) and he is raising him atheist. He unfortunately is having a tough go of it and being in TN has faced some discrimination because he eechoes his father's position. I know there are other factors involved other than just religion but I worry about setting out into uncharted waters when it relates to my kids. I have never had trouble going my own way and facing the hardships but to put someone else through it just because of my opinion is a struggle. Now once again I may be selling my kids short. They may be able to learn, adapt, and thrive in that environment and be stronger for it.