Religion and your children

Well, my son isn't old enough this is an issue yet, but I can tell you what we plan to do. =) My husband is Christian, I am Pagan. We also attend a Unitarian Universalist fellowship, which includes and supports all spiritual paths. We hope that our son will be able to learn about many religions, through us and through the UU. At holiday times, we plan to celebrate both Christian and Pagan holidays, as the two of us already have for several years, as well as learning about holidays other people celebrate. I do hope that my son will be interested in learning about my religion, but I won't force him to participate in it if it doesn't feel right to him. I had a pretty messed up childhood, and part of those problems stemmed from people trying to force their religions on others, or relying only on their religion instead of common sense and real world action, so I don't want my son to have similar experiences. I want him to feel free to develop in his own ways, and to have a safe, loving environment in which to learn and grow.

I believe that teaching children religion is just like teaching them about little red riding hood and not telling them that it's all a fairlytale.

I don't currently have children. I don't plan to push any religion on to them. I will teach them good morals (which I believe can be done with out religion). And then when they are old enough, if they are interested, I will let them feel out lots of different religions and make their own choice about what religion they want to belong to - if they want to belong to one.

I am Christian and teach my children the Christian ways but that is not to say I ignore other religions by any means. I worked for a Jewish Community Council at one point when they were small and it was so wonderful for them to be able to participate in many events that the Jewish Synagogues had locally. They learned all about various holidays, what they meant, how they were celebrated. They have also learned a lot about the Hindu religion as I dated a man who was from India for a while. They loved learning about his ways and how they prepared for weddings, etc. We even watched videos of weddings together to see how intricate it was and how they celebrated. I love teaching them about so many different religions and in the end I will leave it up to them to decide what they want to believe in the end. I think it will be Christianity, simply because that's what they've basically been raised as.

I have 2 kids (ages 7 & 9) and I want them both to be able to choose their own path regarding religion. I am an atheist and my wife would most likely be described as agnostic. I don't force my beliefs onto my kids but instead answer any questions they might have regarding religion as best as I can. There have been a lot of questions since we moved down South as it's very prevalent here. What we really try to teach them though is to be respectful of what other people think or believe and, above all else, do not be judgemental of others. I want my kids to be free thinkers but to also have a ton of respect for others no matter their beliefs.

well i dont have kids ..however iam sure from my side if ever i teach my kid i would say there is one relaigion and there is one god ..what u see in terms of various religion is different branches of god and the principle of every religion is to repect people ...

I am Pagan, Wiccan based. I teach my children at their own level. I also teach them to be respectful of other religions because those are following the path they feel is right for them. I teach them to appreciate life and all the life around them. (My youngest daughter will not even kill a spider.) I teach them the Earth and many things...even rocks...have energies that we can not see. Just because we do not see the moisture in the air, does not mean it is not there. But we do see it as the water runs down the side of our glass on a hot day. There are many things that I teach them. And they take part in rituals for the Sabbats. They even help cast circles and call the corners. But with age and understanding....I also teach them that I want them to choose their religion for themselves. But I also do not want them to fall for misconceptions or follow blindly because of a popular religion. When they ask questions, and i encourage them to ask, I answer to their level. When they need and want more information, they ask more questions. So, it helps to know how much to give.

I believe that when a child reaches an age to chose their own beliefs, they should be allowed to do so. We try to expose our children to different beliefs, but at the age they are, we let them go to church with their grandparents when they want to go. I don't believe in forcing a child to go if they do not want to.

I am a Christian and try to teach my children likewise for i believe in the following Proverbs 22: 6. Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Mine are still little so they just kind of go with the flow. I do plan to teach them about my religion, and about others, when they are older. Right now they just see me and choose to do so also or not.

In my religion Hindu, there are various sects. However, usually the children follows the parents religion but there is no discrimination in case the children wish to adopt other sects or versions of sacred texts. Hindu is a totally free religion of choice for children to adopt as per there likings & intersets.

I've got two boys, 11 and 12 years old. They go to a roman-catholic school, where they are obviously taught the old and new testament. I think it is a nice religion, although I wouldn't call myself a catholic. When asked I tell them what I believe and what not, but for me the most important message I'm trying to get across to them is that I might be wrong and that they have to think for themselves and reach their own conclusions.

Yes, this is a good topic. Well.. what i feel is that religion and religious practices should be imbibed in the children even at an age when they begin to understand something about the existence of God. When that is done, there is no doubt that their future will be bright and they would grow as good citizens.

I don't have children, unless of course you can consider my two cats as my children. But at least let me relate my upbringing. In a word it was fairly loose. My parents were divorced when I was only a year and a half and never really got to know my father, but he was a Methodist. My mother was Catholic. I was baptised Catholic, but don't remember being strictly raised that and I think due to her lousy, my mother had no intention of my going to a Catholic school. Talk about intolerance. Most of the kids were of Irish, Italian or German backgrounds. Well, my mother was part Irish too, but that didn't seem to impress the nuns, all they concentrated on was the other part. She was part Spanish and oh, my God, a "Lowly" Mexican. Oh, yes, the prejudices against Mexicans were rampant then too in her day. She would tell me these horror stories of how she was treated by the nuns. So years and years later, when I came into the picture people would ask how come she didn't send me to a Catholic school, and I remember her saying, "If my daughter ever stepped inside a Catholic school, I'd break her legs." Mmm. Just a tad ticked off, no? Somewhere along the line, she started taking me to church, a Protestant one, where I was confirmed. But that didn't really impress me much. Now even though my great-grandmother was "catholic" she wasn't a practicing one and got involved with Unity and Science of Mind, heck, she even loved listening to Rev. Ike. Somewhere along the line I picked up on it, and liked it as it wasn't a in your face, cramming religion kind of thing. However, my great-grandmother, being of Celtic blood, was no doubt a pagan/witch, just in those days you didn't exactly shout that fact aloud. She was into all the herbal/natural cures, was a nurse but thought all doctors were a$$holes. She never took anything stronger than aspirin and lived to be 98. Now neither my grandmother nor mother "inherited" her skills, but I must have. I also, ever since I can remember was always into the more metaphysical realms of thinking, and thank goodness, despite both my grandmother's and mother's upbringing never discouraged my ideas. Then some years ago, I "discovered" the pagan and wiccan path, and it felt like I had come home, that many of the ideas I've had all along at least had a name attached to them and my concepts of things. Now! If I did have children. Mmmmm. I think I would expose them to as many ideas as possible as far as religion. Naturally since I'm wiccan/pagan I would probably lean more toward that direction, but yet not cram my beliefs down their throats. I think basically it would be up to them when they got of age to decide which path of religious thought they would want to follow. Most people seem to anyway, don't you think? Yes, they might be raised a certain way, and might be content to remain in their religion, but many do choose to follow a different direction if they feel their religion isn't working for them.

I do teach them certain aspects of the our religion...but there's no pressure involved. The only reason why I do that is because I don't want them feeling out of place when we have religious functions. They are free to choose what they want to follow. Basically I believe in seeing each person as an individual. That is my religion for me. I'm no expert in other religions but I believe that most religions preach the same thing. Most of the rituals that we follow in the name of religion just helps us to be rooted.

I send my children to a christian school as I wanted them to have an understanding of the christian religion. My daughter who is 16 has read the new testament from front to back and can give quotes from it if called for. She has now formed her own opinion on christianity and believes that there is too much in this world that contradicts what is in the bible. As a parent I respect her decision but now enforce in her to respect others rights to believe in christianity.

My religion is Hindu and our religion is rich with values and culture. I teach religion to my kids along with practical aspects of life. While quoting incarnation of God what were the compulsions for such incarnation and practically, politically, socially the particular incarnation achieved the objectives teaches a rich value and practical aspect of life. Kids are however free to judge on their own these value and bring to practical life when they grow.