Thread: Another ? for athiests/non believers of any religion

If your child ended up in church, continued to go and ended up finding God, would you be supportive of their decision? Why or why not?

How old is the child?

well i didn't think about that. how about old enough to decide for themself, to think for themself.

I wouldn't agree but I wouldn't berate them or anything. As long as they don't try to push it on me.

Of course I'd be supportive of their decision. If he/she was old enough to think for him/herself, of course I would. Just wondering, dave, why do you ask?

Just wondering, dave, why do you ask?

The other day my friend (who is an athiest) and I were talking and that question popped up. He said he wouldn't allow her to go to church. I was just wondering what you guys thought

Originally Posted by davej

well i didn't think about that. how about old enough to decide for themself, to think for themself.

Then it's fine with me. I would explain my view to the child, but it would be up to him/her to go to church or not go.

Depends on the age. If the child was < 15, then they're easily brainwashed by fantastic stories that never happened. If they're older than that, they're free to make up their own mine.

Well I'd talk to them about it and what their reasons are for doing so because I think religion is ridiculous. But at an age of 16 or so they can make up their own mind.

thanks for the responses.... I am surprised that this question wasn't turned around on me... If my child grew up and decided to follow another religion other then Christianity or became an athiest, would I support them? Sense it wasn't asked and all of you except for maybe one respectfully answered my question, I will answer as well. I think I would have to sit down and talk with him or her about their decision. Find out why they chose a different route. I would have a very open and loving discussion about their beliefs and I believe I would have to support them. I would obviously pray for them but if that is what they really believed in then I would do my best to be supportive. The only outcome i can see of not being supportive would be driving them away. I didn't realize how difficult this question would be until I answered it.

I don't know. It's a good question. I'm aware of what the "right" answer might be, but... I would definitely try to persuade my child not to do this. But then again I suppose it could be useful for him/her to have this experience. We all go through phases of sorts and (hopefully) end up learning from them.

i would probably start crying and saying "Why couldnt you just be gay!?"

Originally Posted by davej

If your child ended up in church, continued to go and ended up finding God, would you be supportive of their decision? Why or why not?

I'm not going to punish my kid for wanting to believe what he/she wants to believe, I don't see myself challenging their beliefs either, unless they confront me on my non-theism of sorts in an evangelical attempt. I'm sure I'd be very open with my non-belief.
Honestly, I wouldn't have a problem with my kid being a theist at all as long as they were socially liberal to an extent (cool with homosexuality mainly), I wouldn't want my kid to be intolerant.

Originally Posted by davej

If your child ended up in church, continued to go and ended up finding God, would you be supportive of their decision? Why or why not?

I'm agnostic but if i was an athiest and my kid was a church person i would not care really. If i forced the child to not go, i am no different then a church goer forcing the child to the church. Besides, i don't judge people or force people to stop drinking pepsi because i drink coke, or people who like basketball to switch to hockey because i like hockey. You're a terrible person if you must force beliefs onto someone. We are able to think for ourselves, make our own choices, understand things that make us the best of intelligence in the world, why strip away the freedom for a "choice". It's called a choice because you can choose to accept, or not accept it. We have evolved enough to understand these things, therefore we know of our own freedom.

Besides, there are much more and better choices then "where am i going when i die", we live in the "now" the "moment", and death is in the future which is not known because there is no future, there are only events that are happening this exact second that lead up to a "future" as we call it.

I would make my stance very, very clear, but in the end I'd let my child do as he pleases. Like Catbus said, so long as they are socially liberal concerning other religions, homosexuals, and atheists, I'd be fine with it.

That probably wouldn't happen though. I would have discussed religion with my child quite a bit so he gets the facts straight: That there is no reason to believe in God, only irrational faith.

I wouldnt mind per se, I might point and laugh a little

I'd support them in the sense of allowing them to do so, but I wouldn't support the actual decision, though I'd only give them my opinion on the subject if it was asked for.

But I wouldn't tolerate anything like "Homosexuals are fags" or any other religiously-justified bigotry.

Not that I plan on having children, but I'd also doubt this would happen, given I'd teach my child how to think not what to think.

I think I'd be very disappointed if a child of mine took to religion, but I'd do my best to hide it. Not sure what you mean by "support it", though.