at first, when theyre young, ill raise my kids with my beliefs, so yes ill be taking them to church. as they grow, they will be free to form their own opinions. but the thing with my church is that we encourage kids to ask questions and debate, and even try to disprove our religion. we do it all the time. priests take it as a challenge. they tell us, if you can disprove the religion with a scientific or very legitimate argument that considers irrational as well as rational possibilities, go ahead.
the problem with non believers is they can't get their head around the notion that religion in some of its elements is irrational. what i mean is that it involves faith. believing without seeing, and of course we get called things like followers and blind sheep and all the rest of the typical arguments that atheists think will affect us.
all that said, if my child finds a way to disprove the existence of the religion and of god, i won't stop them from being an atheist. when a person however, cannot reach that kind of conclusion, they're more drawn into the fact that the religion does exist, and they'll want to know more... then they'll want to come to church on their own will. that is the goal.
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I come from a long family or forcing their kids to attend church and have religious rules (i. e. I can't show my shoulders, collar bone, elbows, or knees, I can't say cuss words (even the little ones), I need to make appearances at church, my male cousins can date whomever they damn well please with no consequences and meanwhile, I get condemned for talking to a guy who's an atheist, there are other double standards strewn about, my grandmother is doing her best to marry me off, your family has a heart attack if you decide never to get married, one bad apple spoils the tree (as exampled by the homophobic Christians (there are ones who support gay right and are decent human beings, I promise), etc.)
I know those were more examples than necessary, but I REALLY needed to vent.
So, no, I would not force my kids to attend church or even to follow my faith because I don't want to submit them to that shit. If they do follow my faith and go to church, that will be up to them, not me.
I grew up going to church even though I hated it ( but now I like going ) kids must be forced to do certain things. We cannot always allow them to make decisions for themselves that's why kids are so fucked today.. they have too much freedom and choice and finally get overwhelmed. When they finally move out of my house they can make their own choices, but as long as they are living under my roof they will abide by whatever rules my husband and I established. I know I may sound like some fucked prison warden, but kids do need some pushing here and there.
Not having psychologic conditions to deal with several kinds of complex decisions by themselves, yes, kids need to be guided. It is different from 'forcing' them to do something - would you consider 'forcing' kids making them eat / bath / brush teeth / sleep / study / etc?
If parents alienate themselves from these responsabilities, their kids would just become lazy, dirty, illiterate and 'useless' citizens.
And they would also easily be 'prey' for any kind of manipulation of third parties with other interests that diverge from the best for the kids, but is focused on making them follow some kind of agenda that excludes responsabilities and also parental roles.
If parents do not guide them, other people will do.
Once kids hit the age in which they have conditions to decide by themselves, those kind of decisions would be theirs and theirs own responsibility.
My daughter goes to church and she loves it. She's only 3 so we will see what happens. If complaints/problems or whatever come up, we will address them openly. She will understand it's ok to ask questions and believe it or not, it's ok to not like church. It's just a human thing we set up to worship God but it's not required to worship God. I honestly don't like churches cuz they're not addressing real issues that need addressing. That doesn't mean they're bad though, just not for me. When I was married, we read the bible together and even had communion at home. That's church too.
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Yes because it's my job to raise them as children. Also anyone who goes to church probably has been taught the verse "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." When they are old enough to decide what they want to do that is up to them. But as a child, no they are going. But we also teach our children about other religions because we think it's important to know how other people may believe.
What? No! If someone expresses to me that they do not wish to do something i listen and try to be considerate. I can understand that you bring your child to bigger events at church like, a wedding or funeral. But Sunday church? Nah, i wouldn't force my belief onto someone like that.
Nope. I don't really think it's smart to force a child to be indoctrinated when they don't even understand the world.
I never liked church as a kid, if I ever had any, I'd raise them atheist. If they were interested in going like with my mom, as she's Catholic af, I'd let the kid choose. But force? Na. I don't like religion anyways.I've always thought the best approach is to give them an opportunity to experience different religions and churches and see if they gravitate to one more than the rest. I think they'll get more out of it if they have fun and want to be involved. I was forced and didn't like it, and haven't gone back since I was old enough to refuse and my parents gave up trying to force it.
Not really. My family is religious as fuck and I'm not. I don't like going to church so I'm not gonna force my kid to go like I had to. With that said, I don't hate going to church and don't mind being in church. I'm just not religious and I just think Christianity (and virtually every religion) is hypocritical
Nah I don't think it's up to me to tell my children what to believe. I think that's a personal journey. That's how my parents raised me and I'm really happy that they did. When I was a kid I believed everything my parents told me so I could have easily been Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. In fact I used to have the same political beliefs as my parents but that changed when I became old enough to challenge all of my own beliefs and convictions.
It's their decision when they are adults. But if they're kids, I will make them go. Church isn't going to kill you. If you leave them at home, how are they going to spend those hours anyways? Also, it's not bad to give your child a less-lenient childhod. Of course, you can't be too strict, but it's good to have a firm resolve.
Church is a good way to let your kids socialize and make friends and build the importance of community, however I'm not particularly religious so I probably wouldn't be the one sending or taking them to church. But as long as they learn that religion is intended to teach peace and civility among civilization they are more than welcome to go.
I find my search for god and peace internally, and seek answers through meditation, if my children wish to do the same, they are welcome to join me.Yeah to this church lol
gymlovers.co.uk/.../gym-is-my-church.jpg
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/.../...d070ba9209.jpgI took my kids until they were about 9. Then I let them choose. My son hates church and never goes, but my daughter loves church and her friends in youth group, and she really enjoys going. Both decisions are totally fine with me.
No because I'm not christian.
I wouldn't force them to go to the mosque because I wasn't forced to go the mosque growing up. But I wish my parents took me to the mosques or Islamic centers because I had to learn many things on my own.Would you force your kids to go to school? To refrain from jumping out 10th story windows? From rinsing they're eyes with battery acid?
real reason they don't want to go is because they want to stay home playing video games, everyone knows that lol.
That's so dumb. Trying to brainwash a smart kid with all that bullshit. Prime example of bad parenting.
If they were to young and immature to leave home alone while I'll went then yeah I would, but if they were old and mature enough to be home alone then fine they don't have to go.
Oh, fuck no. Even if I wasn't an atheist, I would let my kids make their own decisions & beliefs. I don't know what I would've done if my parents had forced me to go to church every week, tbh
How can your kids be atheist unless its what you taught them or school? Kids learn to be atheist just like they learn to about religion.
Certainly not
https://oi59.tinypic.com/bfkuhl.jpgNot at all. I'm not religious so I wouldn't go anyway but even if I were I would respect my child's decision not to go.
My child will go where I go. Unless he's old enough to stay home and care for himself. That being said, I don't go to church.
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