Atheist kids learning about religion.

[RobinFinderson]

Little Robin is an atheist. Basically, when he was old enough to think about it, we presented him the two world view, godful and godless, and he found the case for a godless cosmos to be more persuasive. The result, in his eleven years of life, he has had very little religious learning.

This has recently changed. His middle school history teacher must be some kind of religious nutcase, because he is teaching bible stories as history. At first I thought nothing of it, because learning about the sacred texts of various religions could be a legitimate part of an ancient history course, but the section on the Old Testiment has now dragged out for weeks, and it has gotten to the point that it is now very obvious that teacher will not be spending equal time on the Vedas or the life and times of the Mohammad. It is very Judeo-Christian-centered.

So, given that the teacher is almost certainly some kind of devout who sees his subject as an ideal pretext for teaching Sunday School on the taxpayer's dime, I'm sure he will get a laugh out of this homework that LittleRobin is turning in to him:

[TripletDaddy]

I see your son's religious indoctrination has been influenced a bit by Mega Mind.

[Clark Addison]

Little Robin is an atheist. Basically, when he was old enough to think about it, we presented him the two world view, godful and godless, and he found the case for a godless cosmos to be more persuasive. The result, in his eleven years of life, he has had very little religious learning.

I assume that was when he turned 8?

At what age did Little Robin stop attending LDS primary? Just curious.

[RobinFinderson]

I see your son's religious indoctrination has been influenced a bit by Mega Mind.

Yeah, Mega Mind in a purple shirt and tie. Dear Mormon Priesthood holders, your white shirt fetish is appropriate. Colorful shirts are reserved for deity.

[RobinFinderson]

I assume that was when he turned 8?

At what age did Little Robin stop attending LDS primary? Just curious.

I'd have to put some thought into it, but he was probably somewhere between six and seven (below 8 for sure, since we never had any official 'baptism' discussions). The main thing that LR remembers from church (which he attended in South Central) was that one of the members collected leftover baked goods from a supermarket, so there were always donuts at the end of meetings.

[YOhio]

I'd have to put some thought into it, but he was probably somewhere between six and seven (below 8 for sure, since we never had any official 'baptism' discussions). The main thing that LR remembers from church (which he attended in South Central) was that one of the members collected leftover baked goods from a supermarket, so there were always donuts at the end of meetings.

WTF? You were going to a ward that gave out free donuts and you left? Sorry, Robin. You have no credibility anymore.

[FMCoug]

I'd have to put some thought into it, but he was probably somewhere between six and seven (below 8 for sure, since we never had any official 'baptism' discussions). The main thing that LR remembers from church (which he attended in South Central) was that one of the members collected leftover baked goods from a supermarket, so there were always donuts at the end of meetings.

That is pretty funny. That just sparked a memory from Little FMCoug. When I was about that age, we went to church at the Garden Grove Community Church (church that later built the Crystal Cathedral). My Mom and Grandma would always fight over going in or watching it in the parking lot drive-in movie style. Since it was broadcast on TV they actually had it set up like that in an auxilliary parking lot. Anyway, I always sided with Grandma because if you went in, they had donuts and fruit punch available after the service.

Of course, my favorite solution was when we just watched it at home so I could play with my hot wheels and pretend to watch.

[Green Monstah]

WTF? You were going to a ward that gave out free donuts and you left? Sorry, Robin. You have no credibility anymore.

Literal LOL.

[Katy Lied]

Robin, IMHO you do your son a disservice not to teach him about world religions. He will grow up not knowing a great body of common knowledge and certainly won't be able to do the NYT crossword puzzle.

One of my grad school roommates was a very angry lapsed catholic who was Italian from Italy. She swore that her children would not be raised to know anything about catholicism, and I told her that they will grow up disadvantaged, never able to use commonalities of expression to communicate with others. One doesn't have to believe in bible stories to learn them.

Another roommate was the daughter of an atheist who did not teach them anything about Christianity. I once laughed at the irony because her brother's names were Peter, and Paul and she didn't get it.

You are proud of your son because he believes the same way you do, but every devout mormon is also proud of their 6-year old son who believes in Jesus and Joseph Smith, and wants to serve a mission. RJr is just doing what every son who loves his parents and is influenced by them does.

[BlueHair]

Robin, IMHO you do your son a disservice not to teach him about world religions. He will grow up not knowing a great body of common knowledge and certainly won't be able to do the NYT crossword puzzle.

One of my grad school roommates was a very angry lapsed catholic who was Italian from Italy. She swore that her children would not be raised to know anything about catholicism, and I told her that they will grow up disadvantaged, never able to use commonalities of expression to communicate with others. One doesn't have to believe in bible stories to learn them.

Another roommate was the daughter of an atheist who did not teach them anything about Christianity. I once laughed at the irony because her brother's names were Peter, and Paul and she didn't get it.

You are proud of your son because he believes the same way you do, but every devout mormon is also proud of their 6-year old son who believes in Jesus and Joseph Smith, and wants to serve a mission. RJr is just doing what every son who loves his parents and is influenced by them does.

Is it common for parents to teach their kids about world religions? My parents only taught us about Mormonism. Anything I learned about other religions was what I saw on t.v.

[Uncle Ted]

Is it common for parents to teach their kids about world religions? My parents only taught us about Mormonism. Anything I learned about other religions was what I saw on t.v.

The best religion class I took at BYU was world religions. It has help me make many non-member friends because I have some understanding of their religion. It is good to have my baptist friends praying for me so I won't go to hell.

[TripletDaddy]

My mom didn't really teach us anything. She left it up to us to do what we wanted in that regard.

With all due respect, RobinFindersons approach seems like a loaded agenda. Why do you need to sit someone down and give them two alternatives, esp at such an age? Let him figure things out and come to his own conclusions. Ask his peers, attend different services, etc. Decide at a much later age.

"Son, here are your two choices."
"What do you and mom think?"
"We chose X."
"I'm choosing X, too."
"Good choice, son, glad you came to that conclusion on your own. We clearly didn't influence that."

[wuapinmon]

[RobinFinderson]

Mostly I just thought it was a cute picture that seemed to reflect his nonreligious upbringing. I thought it might make a few of you chuckle, the way it made me laugh.

Anyhow,KL, We talk with LittleRobin about other people's religions more than my parents talked with me. Most of what I learned about other religions came from friends of other faiths. I didn't really know much about world religions until I went to BYU, and even now I have much to learn. It is a shame, but I'm glad that I live in a city with way more religious diversity than the town where I grew up, because already Little Robin knows more about the faiths of his friends than I did at his age. I only knew one Jew in my home town, and the only reason I knew him was because he converted to Mormonism for his girlfriend (who some of you know from CougarGuard).

DDD, I simplified LittleRobin's decision process to be just accurate enough for a casual anecdote.. We never formally sat him down, but we were talking about religion and faith and belief in the home, and Little Robin would participate. He eventually just soaked up enough info that he felt ready to declare his own beliefs. We had nothing like a baptism to mark the moment and make him feel the importance of agreeing with our beliefs. It happened over a series of family chats. Sorry for the imprecision.

[statman]

LOL - That's exactly what I thought of...