About a baby

[gamerguy86]

Hey folks, I'm an atheist in a bit of a pickle. My wife believes in God. She wasn't raised in church but she's from the south and a lot of people there have faith in Jesus. We are pregnant and of course I want to raise my child to believe what I consider to be the truth about life. She's not comfortable with me revealing to our child that I'm an atheist. We have come to an agreement to only answer what questions our child might have about God but I'm not completely happy with that. I'm afraid that our child may be exposed to religion, specifically Christianity, that may blindfold him from the facts of science. I don't want my child to think he needs to be a certain way to prevent going to hell. I was raised in church and was constantly told that I would spend an eternity in hell if I didn't behave a certain way. I don't want my baby to be afraid of something that I now know to be false. I suppose my question is, what can my wife and I do to eliminate confusion to our baby yet consolidate our ideas so that everyone involved is happy? Thank you so much for any input. I apologize for the wall of text.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

A bit late; that's the kind of thing you sort out BEFORE getting pregnant. I think you're probably fucked in terms of formal schooling.

Of course there's nothing to stop you teaching your child YOUR views. In the final analysis,his beliefs will be his/her decision,not yours OR your wife's. For the sake of the child, I hope you are both mature enough to let that happen without fuss.

[downbeatplumb]

My wife keeps on telling my children about her spiritualism and I just sit here on atheist forums. So far they all profess atheism.

[Tiberius]

Teach the child critical thinking from an early age. Teach them to question everything. Teach them logic, science, and reasoning. That is all you really can do, and all you really should do in your situation. I'm a big fan of letting people (including children) decide their own beliefs. If my child asked me if I believed in God, I'd be truthful, but I wouldn't try to force my atheism on them. If I did that, I'd be just as bad as the families who indoctrinate their kids from an early age.

[Faith No More]

Teach them how to think instead of what to think. From there, the choice is theirs.

[jackman]

you're still a few years from the conversation, imo, but kids are so impressive. if you speak to them sorta emphasizing what you like about logic and thinking thru things, they will want to emulate that, to make you happy. no need to even tell them what they should do or think. you may be surprised some of the stuff they starts to think up on her own.

[gamerguy86]

Thank you guys very much. This really helped actually.