Stagering thought: Could it be that we Europeans are less hung up about religion & the whole god thing because we get to keep our teddy bears until we leave them to our grandchildren in our wills?

Mohan, just in case there is some confusion, it was Richard Dawkins, the eminent evolutionary biologist who wrote The God Delusion. I’m just a humble retired family counselor.

I do a similar thing with my 4 year old.

He loves animals (and believes God made them as they are) so I like to play little games to help sow the seeds. Like asking “why do you think an Arctic fox is white?”. Without prompting he suggested that it was so other animals wouldnt be able to see him – he’s a smart little guy.

I dont do this to screw with his head – its just so that when he encounters evolution in school for the first time it wont shatter his (mother’s) Xtian view of the world.

To Dad of Two – as long as the kids are number 1, everything wil be fine. It’s a long race – and if you can raise them to think for themselves they’ll be fine.

And thanks Jim. You and I share the same thoughts.

I just want to communicate something that I left out. My goal here, honestly, is to not make sure they grow up to be Atheists. In all actuality, I want to offer them the opportunity to question and think for themselves – two luxuries I was not offered as a child growing up.

What I’ve settled on over the years is that once you each understand what the other believes, just let it go. If you push it you only become a threat to their beliefs. Don’t talk about religion unless a situation comes up or they bring it up. Don’t try to encourage them to believe what you believe. Instead, teach them to think for themselves and to think critically and independently about all things. Every couple of years or so I would take an opportunity when it came up to ask what they believed, then to ask why they believed it. I didn’t respond to what they said, I just listened. I also did my best to set an example. The more important things are what you do and what they think, not the other way around.

The above just applies to beliefs, not science or facts. I teach/taught them about things like evolution, the earth’s formation, the universe, etc.

Both of my older kids grew up to be nonreligious. My son went from being very involved in church (3-5x a week) in high school to a full fledged atheist once he hit college. My little one is learning that just because her BFF believes in ghosts that doesn’t mean she needs to.

My good friend has the opposite problem, as she is the Atheist and her ex the religious one. She had to get arbitration to make him stop telling their son she was living with Satan and that he should be afraid to sleep in her house. What kind of parent abuses a child like that?