by Karen on December 11, 2008
So, there I was stumbling along on an unrelated subject when this parenting article popped up on the screen about the steps we parents can take in order to, at the very least, lower the odds of our children growing up to be stars on Cops by pointing out the so-called mistakes we are making.
Most are superficial pieces of fluff for the Suburb Set, but one really pissed me off. According to the article, the sixth mistake we make as parents is failing to install religious faith in our children.
It is critical to give your child a faith or a belief in something. You do not have to have a definite religion, but a faith in something greater. It might be God, Buddha or simply a greater force. Also you do not need a specific religion to teach your child about kindness, sympathy, understanding, love and compassion.
The article, of course, leaves off the mistake of willfully teaching our children to be bigots that consider people who do not believe in “something greater”to be bad people who’s children are going to grow up to be unkind, unsympathetic, unperceptive, hateful and unfeeling.
Just ask my five year old. Where’d she hear that gem? At school and it’s the truth because her teacher said so.
We should have known that something like this was bound to happen sooner or later. The teacher has made it extremely obvious she’s one of those Christians who assumes everyone else is also.
For example, we recently watched in shock as she led the students in two god soaked pledges and a god soaked song which she followed up by telling the children to bow their heads and say their prayers.
I’ve been hoping that we wouldn’t have to deal with this until our daughter was older and more capable of understanding what’s going on, but it appears that’s not going to be possible.
What’s gets me though is that I feel like the bad guy for even considering making a complaint about this.
I’m also quite worried about what will happen to our daughter if we do. A lot of Christians simply can’t handle not being allowed to use their official positions to promote their personal beliefs. They tend to turn into vicious bullies who make life hell for the only party can reasonably get to – the kid(s).
Our daughter is just coming out her shell and I’m afraid that if there is a backlash, she’ll retreat back into it – permanently.
What’s a parent to do?
by Karen on January 10, 2008
Dawn Sherman, a 14 year old girl in Illinois, is suing her school due to a new law that requires a moment of silence prior to the start of class. The response is pretty much what you’d expect. Dawn has been found guilty of “forcing” her alleged beliefs on others and has somehow managed to deny them all the right to believe in God.
What caught my eye were the remarks about her being brainwashed by her dad. What led them to believe Dawn was being brainwashed?
She appears to be an atheist – just like her father – and is pretty insistence about her rights being respected – just like her father. I have no doubt that Dawn was and is being influenced by her father. She’s only lived with him for her entire life and he’s obviously not the shrinking “nice” kind of atheist, but brainwashed?
You’ve gotta be kidding me. Influencing someone to believe a particular thing through mere speech and example is not brainwashing. Now if Ron or his wife threatened to, let’s say, take her gifts away if she wasn’t an atheist, then we’d have something.
Of course, it’s not really about Dawn being brainwashed. It’s about atheist parents actually being unapologetically atheistic around their kids. We’re not supposed to let our kids know we don’t believe in invisible magic men in the sky “until they’re old enough”. Old enough for what?
As I more or less stated in an earlier post about Christian persecution in America, I’ve been accosted on the streets by god peddlers. My daughter is usually present. If she’s not “old enough” to be introduced to disbelief, isn’t she also not “old enough” to be introduced to belief?
If waiting until it’s appropriate is actually important, shouldn’t every believer in the country shut their fucking traps about their special friend every time they realize a young child is present? Of course not. Many even see the presence of a young child as a reason to start the god peddling.
I’ve been hit up for God more times since our daughter was born than in all the years prior to her birth. My own mother would specifically target new parents. She’d give them diapers and other baby items in a basket, complete with the “raise your kid in church or be prepared to post bail” pamphlets.
The fact of the matter is when we atheist parents behave atheistically around our children and, even better, do so in a manner that isn’t apologetic, our kids kind of figure out that it’s okay to not believe in an invisible magic man.
They might even conclude that it’s normal to think and express such thoughts. We can’t have that, can we? They might get a wild hair up their ass and their tell their friends that the parents are lying to them about Santa Claus and God.
