Atheist and the nativity

Cat501

VikkiiKawaii wrote: »

Christianity is usually practiced in 'non faith schools'. It definitely was in my primary school, we sang hymns and had guest preachers in, despite the fact we were a non faith school. It used to annoy me when I reached year 6, as I was not and am not a Christian and felt it was slightly forced down our throats, although if you were of a different religion you were allowed to be excused. However things may not be as extreme now, it's been six years since I was in primary school.

As a parent of kids at a so called secular school it annoyed me too, the minister coming into the school at Christmas, Easter etc and presenting bible stories as fact, and getting children as young as nursery age to say things, like "Jesus loves me" and suchlike. He was a nice man - but it all smacked of indoctrination to me and left me feeling mighty uncomfortable! There's a clear difference between religious instruction and religious education.

They're all teenagers now though and made their own minds up long ago:)

As for degrees of atheism, doesn't Richard Dawkins say that he cannot describe himself as 100% atheist, as even he cannot categorically disprove the existence of a god or gods - all he can say is the odds are heavily stacked against it. Something like that anyway from what I recall!:)

LittleMissAspie

I wouldn't call a nativity scene "fire and brimstone"! I went to a normal non-religious school and we still had hymns and assemblies based around Christianity, that's the default for Britain. It never made me believe in any of it. Just tell her it's a Christmas story for religious people.

I distinctly remember being around 7 years old in class when we were reading some bible story or other and asking my mates 'you don't believe in this stuff do you, it clearly didn't happen!'.

I told everyone in primary school that Father Christmas didn't exist and it was their parents who were putting the presents in their rooms. No-one believed me so I like to think they felt pretty stupid when they found out I was telling the truth all along.

SandC

I don't see how we can possibly not teach children (or allow them to learn, through what they hear at school or research themselves or whatever) about christian beliefs when the year we use to tell the date is based on the birth of Jesus.

I think it's more harmful to steer kids away from 'religion' as a whole than to encourage them to learn about all faiths, including christianity.

magenta22

Throughout school your child will hear of many different religious beliefs.

You could always ask them to exclude them from the class when they are talking about anything religious but would that be nice for them?

pearl123

My father was an Atheist. (passed away now) He allowed me as a child to participate in all nativities plays etc. He allowed me to enjoy the celebration with the other children. And he was quite happy to listen to a child excitedly talking about Jesus. He placed no negativity upon a child regarding this whether it was true or not. And he only made it clear where he stood when I was older. He thought it was better that I joined in with all the other children, than be isolated. He also thought it better that I came to my own conclusions regarding whether I believed or not. OP your believes about religion are yours. Let you child make their own decision when they are ready.
Let a child be a child !

Person_one

SandC wrote: »

I don't see how we can possibly not teach children (or allow them to learn, through what they hear at school or research themselves or whatever) about christian beliefs when the year we use to tell the date is based on the birth of Jesus.

I think it's more harmful to steer kids away from 'religion' as a whole than to encourage them to learn about all faiths, including christianity.

Schools and teachers do have to be very careful about the way they teach religion though.

There's a huge difference between:

"Christians believe that Jesus was the son of God, and that he could make miracles happen."

and

"Jesus was the son of God. He came to save us from our sins, now lets sing a hymn for Him."

peachyprice

ilikewatch wrote: »

I'm sure that come the Rapture plenty of atheists faced with undergoing Tribulation will wish they had the "special privelege" of ascending to meet the lord, rather hanging round on Earth for 7 years of misery

Nah, imagine what a peaceful place earth will be with no religion, no war, no knocks on the door on a Sunday morning trying to convert us

Yolina

I went to a private Catholic school (in France) despite neither me or my parents being baptised or religious - never did me any harm frankly:p My parents registered me there simply because it was one of the best schools. I do remember that we had some religious classes in the first few years of primary school but nothing after that. I was the *only* non-baptised child in primary school, yet there never was any pressure on me (and I even did get to play Mary in the nativity one year :rotfl: ) I quite like reading about all the different religions out there anyway, I find it interesting. Religion is part of many people's lives but it doesn't mean they have to be zealots preaching all the time. My grandparents had a separate ground floor flat that they were renting to students from the nearby medical uni - they had quite a few Muslim Lebanese students over the years and I was always invited for Eid (which might explain why all those years later I still absolutely love Lebanese food )

Person_one

Cat501 wrote: »

As for degrees of atheism, doesn't Richard Dawkins say that he cannot describe himself as 100% atheist, as even he cannot categorically disprove the existence of a god or gods - all he can say is the odds are heavily stacked against it. Something like that anyway from what I recall!:)

Ah, then technically he should probably call himself an agnostic.

Atheism means literally 'without belief'

Agnostic means 'without knowledge'.

liney

Unless your school is a faith school then Religious Education (note education, not instruction) will include many faiths. My DS7 knows about Christianity, Judism, Sikhism, and Islam already.

In my opinion, the fact that you are an athiest does not give you the right to influence your child's feelings. They are not taught that this is 'factual information' but that this is what this particular religious group believes. Your child may decide they would like to worship at a later date, and who are you to tell them no?

Just out of interest, when you child asks you about death what will you tell them? Young children find the idea distressing enough and will often gravitate towards there being a 'heaven' for comfort.