Raising Freethinkers

I was wondering about what people who are raising their children to
be Atheist or know someone raising their children to be Atheist are
doing. I think it would be kind of difficult...I'm 18, and I don't
want to have children anytime soon, but I was wondering for when I do have children, what obstacles I'd face.

For believers, it's easy. As soon as the child understands some of
the language they can teach the whole "god loves everyone" spiel.
They can then take them to church and proceed to fill their
children's heads with bullshit so that they grow up believing in zeus
or athena or god or the headless horseman or whatever.

But how do you explain to children religion and why you are rational
and do not believe in any spiritual beings, when they do not actually
know what religion is in the first place? You can't just one day be
like, "god doesn't exist," like believers can say, "there's a god who
loves you in heaven."

So do you just raise them from an early age not teaching them
anything about religion? And if so, what do you do when they come
home from school one day asking about god? How do you protect them from being brainwashed into believing?

Also, on a slightly different note, what do you do about believers'
children? Although I hate seeing children being brainwashed by their
parents into believing, I personally don't think it's ethical to
interfere with how they're raising their children, as long the
children are not in danger (Because they are young, they will still
have many chances to question their religious beliefs, so I don't
count brainwashing as a danger in this case).

I'm talking about young children, here. I would give a teen my own
beliefs about god and spirits without hesitation, but I never know
what to do if a little 4 year old starts talking about god. I was
wondering what you guys did when a child asks you about god (if this
has ever happened to anyone). Do you tell them you don't believe in
god? Have you ever gotten yelled at by religious parents?

I was 14 when I began questioning my religious beliefs. I'm an
Atheist now, but I was Agnostic at the time. I had, however, signed
up to be a leader at bible camp for children up to 5th grade, and I
decided to do it anyway. All the time, I kept on wondering what I
would say if the kids asked me about god. I guess at a church,
though, if you're helping out with something like that, it's assumed
that you're a christian. None of the kids ever did, and to tell you
the truth, the kids in my group (the 1st-2nd graders) were so young
that all they cared about was making cookies during kitchen time and watching chadder the chipmunk's bible adventures on tv. I still wonder how I would've responded, though...

I think my uncle's an atheist, but I really don't know. My mom won't
talk about his beliefs, and I rarely see him because he's distanced
himself from the family, and we've distanced ourselves from him. When
I was 6, though, he asked me if I believed in god. I thought it to be
a very silly question, and said that of course I did, didn't he? I
can't remember what he said, but I think he said no at this point.
It's weird, but when I was a christian (and I was pretty
religious...I even went door to door converting people, much as I
hate to admit it), I tended to block out everything that people said
against christianity. I even argued with my atheist friend, and I
have no clue what our arguments were, because all I can remember were my own statements. Anyways, my uncle was one who would admit to children his beliefs....

...Okay, this was a very long, disorganized post, but I felt like
saying something :). If you feel like responding to one or any of the
things I've said, go for it ;).

Hey Sammy, I have two children - both boys. One who is nine and one who is almost 2. I have told my oldest all along that we don't believe in god. Some of the family had brought it up to him occasionally during the years and we'd tell him that yes, some people believe in god. He's been to the occasional church service - maybe 3 or 4 - and hasn't been to one in a few years. He attended a week of bible summer camp with my brother a couple years ago. He has very little knowledge of the bible or christianity or hell or god. His knowledge of hell comes from the show Futurama. This amuses me to know end. When he was about 6 he went through a "What happens when we die phase?" And we explained to him that this is it, we live and then we die and that's it. He has, on his own, at some point decided that he thinks we die and come back as cats. :<)

The following interesting occurrences have arisen due to our lack of belief in god:

At a memorial service for my cousin (can't call it a funeral - they didn't have his body) in a church he blurted out over the refreshments table, "Well, we don't believe in god." This was while in the presence of my very catholic step mom and brother who is being raised by said step mom and my father. I was not around when he said this. This comment did lead to a very interesting conversation on the way back to my father's house at the end of the evening. My step-mom made sure that my brother believed in god. "Patrick, is there a god?" "Yes." He said.

At a doctor's visit somehow the doctor said something about god, just a passing remark. George said, "I don't believe in god." The doctor asked "Why not?" George told him he couldn't see god. The doctor then proceeded to drop his pen on the floor. "Can't see gravity - but you know it's there." (or other such nonsense.) Later George and I discussed that yes, you couldn't see gravity but you could test it and see it's effect. You can't test god.

My best friend's (she is REALLY religious) son told her and her husband that god wasn't real. Of course they were pissed off at me, but I didn't talk to him about it. I'm sure that George did. Her son is 4. Whenever he would ask me questions about god, "DO you think god could move that," or make any other comments regarding god I would ignore him. However, my friend's older daughters said something about god once and I told them I didn't believe in god. Her youngest daughter promptly told me I was going to hell. Can't beat brainwashing at a young age.

He has come home and told me that his teacher has said her prayers are answered. We talked about how prayers are bullshit. He says the kids don't really talk about god at school.

The other day we came across a preacher on the TV - my husband asked George if he wanted to start going to church and listening to a guy preach like that. I told him, I'll take you every sunday if you want. You can sit for an hour or so and listen to some guy preach. He declined.

Speaking of brainwashing/child abuse - have you seen the trailer for JESUS CAMP??? Scary stuff.