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What to teach my child?
December 24, 2014 at 5:50 am
I am pretty much going against my belief of asking for opinions for my parenting.
I have a one year old, and I was thinking as an atheist, what would be the best way to enlighten a virgin minded child in regards to religion/atheism?
-Educate them on what what my thoughts are?
-dictate what they should follow or believe in?
-Let them choose what path they want?
I have a few years to prepare, I would like just a general and collected thought on the matter.
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RE: What to teach my child?
December 24, 2014 at 5:54 am
Teach them how to apply logic to facts and situations and let them find their own path.
Forcing your own views on people were it comes to these things can lead to resentment later on.
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
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RE: What to teach my child?
December 24, 2014 at 6:05 am
(December 24, 2014 at 5:54 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: Teach them how to apply logic to facts and situations and let them find their own path.
Forcing your own views on people were it comes to these things can lead to resentment later on.
That's what I'm feeling. I should point out that I am not anti-theist. I don't care what people think on the matter of religion, I don't care if a god exists or not. So this passive atheism of mine, I hope, doesn't influence to my child.
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RE: What to teach my child?
December 24, 2014 at 6:06 am
(This post was last modified: December 24, 2014 at 6:11 am by robvalue.)
Teach how to think not what to think 
I would say that let your child come to you with questions, then help them work through it logically.
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RE: What to teach my child?
December 24, 2014 at 6:22 am
I have a hypothesis (wild guess) about our generation of atheists, and perhaps the following few.
This era of atheists will be bookmarked by the emergence of a generation of atheists that never had to deconvert. They will never have had to struggle against indoctrination, or break free from mental chains, padlocked by well-meaning family and reinforced with church. They won't ever think to take pride in their atheism. They won't feel the need to seek out and bond with a minority of strangers on the Internet who share a common view of the "supernatural" and, more importantly, the natural. The next era of atheists will call themselves musicians, scientists, machine repairmen, grandparents, or whatever else they desire to be. But theism won't even register.
I also predict an "old atheist revival movement" started by some hip college students of history who'll look back at our years and see what we were up against, and they'll see we fought. They'll be jealous of their rock star, rebel grandparents. 
Anyhow, I say we start to raise that generation now. Childhoods built of facts, reason, and honest observation.
I can't remember where this verse is from, I think it got removed from canon:
"I don't hang around with mostly men because I'm gay. It's because men are better than women. Better trained, better equipped...better. Just better! I'm not gay."
For context, this is the previous verse:
"Hi Jesus" -robvalue
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RE: What to teach my child?
December 24, 2014 at 8:09 am
(December 24, 2014 at 5:50 am)Stealth Wrote: I am pretty much going against my belief of asking for opinions for my parenting.
I have a one year old, and I was thinking as an atheist, what would be the best way to enlighten a virgin minded child in regards to religion/atheism?
-Educate them on what what my thoughts are?
-dictate what they should follow or believe in?
-Let them choose what path they want?
I have a few years to prepare, I would like just a general and collected thought on the matter.
Being a parent means getting to do whatever you want. If you want a free thinker, teach the kid to think freely. If you want the kid to adhere to certain philosophies or idea, teach them often and strongly.
The most likely scenario, however, is that they will mimic you. So if you want them to be like you, just follow your own natural inclinations at all times, and let nature take its course.
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RE: What to teach my child?
December 24, 2014 at 8:59 am
(December 24, 2014 at 5:50 am)Stealth Wrote: -Educate them on what what my thoughts are?
-dictate what they should follow or believe in?
-Let them choose what path they want? If you are a "deconvert" from a particular religion, I cannot imagine why you would want to dictate anything to them regarding such beliefs. Teach them to question things and teach them to seek out answers. I believe that it's an approach that will serve them well in a lot of areas of their lives.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
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RE: What to teach my child?
December 24, 2014 at 10:15 am
Children are naturally inquisitive. Over explain how the world works. Also, people typically fend off questions like swatting flies. Teach them what questions to ask. I always found the best way to do this is asking exploratory questions in return.
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RE: What to teach my child?
December 24, 2014 at 10:38 am
(December 24, 2014 at 5:50 am)Stealth Wrote: I am pretty much going against my belief of asking for opinions for my parenting.
I have a one year old, and I was thinking as an atheist, what would be the best way to enlighten a virgin minded child in regards to religion/atheism?
-Educate them on what what my thoughts are?
-dictate what they should follow or believe in?
-Let them choose what path they want?
I have a few years to prepare, I would like just a general and collected thought on the matter.
If any weirdos says to you. That you need god quickly yell i need a adult if they too say you need jesus yell i need a real adult. all joking aside. If your child wants to be religious its alright. But really enforce critical thinking and logic and teach your kid reasoning.
Atheism is a non-prophet organization join today.
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RE: What to teach my child?
December 24, 2014 at 11:40 am
(December 24, 2014 at 5:50 am)Stealth Wrote: I have a one year old, and I was thinking as an atheist, what would be the best way to enlighten a virgin minded child in regards to religion/atheism?
Teach them critical thinking skills and let them follow their own path.
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