Ask a Catholic

[Randy Carson]

Parkers, I have you on ignore because I do not appreciate your language and your abuse. I decided to read this post on a whim. Or was it the Holy Spirit?

I will respond this once, but don't get used to it. I probably won't read your reply.

Like any parent, I taught them what I thought was true.

No, not like any parent. I'm a parent too, and I didn't train him to be atheist. I didn't "teach" him what I thought to be true.  I did answer his questions, without pulling any punches, just as his mother did. Just so you know, at that time his mother was Catholic.

He came to his atheism on his own, because I taught him how to smell bullshit.

And his mother converted to atheist Buddhism, more as a result of cancer causing her to doubt your god's goodness than anything else.

IOW, your kids saw no real faith in their dad. You taught them by your example of NOT believing.

However, after they reached the age of 15 or so, I did not require them to attend mass with my wife and me.

Translation: I didn't teach them what I thought was true; I shopped that out to the guy I follow blindly like a sheep.[/i]

Uh, no, Parkers. I didn't say that I didn't teach them or that I shopped it out. I said I no longer require them to go. But they have been taught and I continue to speak about God when appropriate. But I don't beat them over the head with religion or hell like some in this forum claim to have experienced.

What, no props for that?

Thus far, they have not chosen to attend on their own. I went through that phase myself when I was in my teens.

How odd that you cannot even convince your own children of the truth of your beliefs ... and good for them.  Maybe they will escape the harness that has stultified your life.

Your hatred has such control over you that you cannot help saying truly stupid things.

How do you know that my kids don't believe in God, Parkers? Have you spoken with any of them? Or is it more a matter of wanting to sleep in on Sunday morning like most sleep-deprived teenagers?

I'm letting them make their own decisions, Parkers. They know where I stand. Only time will tell where they stand, and I'm praying for them in the meantime.

Oh, and you, too. Every time I go to mass. But while you get my intercession, you get no more of my time.

Your loss.