Theists teaching children

[Paraselene]

I could understand if theists were willing to be as open minded about teaching as atheists.

After all, if I was going to teach a child about religion, it would not be to state that a particular religion is true above all else and that you must believe it as truth or you will burn in hell.

I believe all children should be introduced to the freedom of discovering belief, or lack thereof.

I would never teach one thing over another. Rather, I would introduce the reality that there are different beliefs, and that one should find his own path without a singular path being chosen for him.

[Joods]

My boys tried to have a discussion about religion today. What infuriates me so much is that they have something called "Release Time" after school. It is a program held at the school and run by someone they employ. Guess what it focuses on?


Yep. The bible and god.

They are my stepsons and no matter what, legally, I have zero say in the matter. If I did, I wouldn't allow them in the program.

[Paraselene]

Is the program held on school grounds even after school? If so, that is still against the separation of church and state.

[Joods]

Yes. It's an after school program held in one of the classrooms. I know it's a separation of church and state. I have no say in the matter. I'm just the stepmom. If I knew I had a solid case, I'd sue, but my own children aren't in that school district so I would really have no grounds to stand on, not being a parent of an actual student going there. My own girls are lucky. Their school district does NOT have this sort of program there.

[Paraselene]

And how does the father feel about it? Inform me more of that situation.

[Joods]

He feels that because his ex wife fails repeatedly to keep him informed of situations at school (she tells him about things after she's handled them), doctor appointments (she tells him about those, after the boys have already been seen), that if it keeps the boys out of trouble for a bit after school, then what's the harm? He's a Wiccan. We don't discuss religion, but I talk about this forum and atheism a lot.

His ex has majority physical custody of the boys and both parents share equal legal custody. She's violated the legal custody part so many times, I've lost count. But we don't have the money for a lawyer and he can't afford to take even one day off from work, so there isn't much that can be done. I get mad sometimes because I honestly feel that he doesn't fight as hard for his kids as I have fought for mine. I have to remind him that the weekends are for the kids, not for us to sit in front of the tv for the short time we have them with us.

[Joods]

He's also not the type that likes confrontation with his ex, which is why she gets away with things and he bites his tongue most of the time.

[Paraselene]

The fact that he's Wiccan, because I used to be Wiccan and know it well, he should be appalled by what the school is doing.

He needs to grow a pair.

[Joods]

I don't know much about Wiccan, to be honest. And I'm not sure how much he actually knows about it either. Before I would even think about questioning his faith about this, I'd need to be educated in his beliefs.

[Paraselene]

Wicca does tend to have this live and let live philosophy, which might explain your explanation about him being complacent about his confrontation problem. However, his daddy instinct should automatically override that. No pagan parent wants his child to be taught something that is against church and state policy.