raising "godless" kids

Audrey · **Joined:** Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:08 pm **Posts:** 1224

+1 on having read the Bible for literature classes. It's odd because I have retained way more of the stories in there from just taking a semester or 2 of class than my partner has from being forced to go to Sunday school for 10 years!

Larisa · **Posted:** Thu Jan 24, 2013 3:57 pm

When we read "Grapes of Wrath" in high school, the teacher told us that it was significant that a character with the initials JC sacrifices himself in order to save everyone else, and I had no idea what she was talking about. I knew the basic story of the Christian bible from having done Godspell with my theatre group, but from that, I had learned "Judas betrayed Jesus, and so Jesus was killed." I didn't figure out the "Jesus' death was a sacrifice, so that everyone else's sins would be forgiven," part until college.

jewbacca · **Posted:** Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:26 pm

Me: "Hey Blasto, do you believe in God?"
Blasto: "Um, no."
Me: Do you believe in Jesus?
Blasto: "Um, no."
Me:"Do you believe you are a good person?"
Blasto: "Yeah. I'm pretty awesome."

My job is done.

Seriously speaking, I'll just keep teaching both kids what I know and hope that it sticks. To me, it's pretty cool that he is comfortable with what he believes. We go to a UU church, but it's a place where we DON'T go to worship. He just likes learning about the environment and how to be a good friend.

interrobang?! · **Posted:** Thu Jan 24, 2013 8:27 pm

TheCrabbyCrafter wrote:

I'm also planning to call the local (and by local, I mean Glasgow, as there seem to only be Christian churches out here) mosques, temples, etc. to see if my kids could have a look around and learn a little about their customs.

/sidebar
Hey, Crabby, just to say- I pass the Glasgow Central Mosque (just South of the river) every day on the way back and forth to work and they seem to often have big ol' open days where everyone can come in and have a good look around and learn.

Also, the Sikh Gurdwara (free veg food for all!) on Berkeley Street encourages weekend drop-ins.

You'll probably have to go out of the city (Newton Mearns/Giffnock) in search of a Synagog though.

Tofulish · **Posted:** Thu Jan 24, 2013 9:15 pm

I loved Alain de Botton's discussion about what atheists should adopt from religions. In many ways it puts into a nutshell the things that I miss not being a person of faith.

I miss the music, the wonder, the art, the community. He says it way better though. Check it out.

http://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botto ... m_2_0.html

I wanted Leela to be part of a community of faith, but honestly they don't feel right at the moment. Maybe things will change as we grow up. I loved Sunday school - I loved my Catholic community growing up. I thought it was one of the best parts of my youth and I wish she could have something similar. We're going to keep sensing into it and hopefully we can one day find something that suits us like Catholicism used to fit me. My priest, Father Unger, was amazing - he was all about social justice and he was just so wise and wonderful. He was also on the board of a home for the elderly outside Vienna where they had the cutest donkeys. I was so sad when he died.

TheCrabbyCrafter · **Posted:** Fri Jan 25, 2013 4:16 am

interrobang?! wrote:

TheCrabbyCrafter wrote:

I'm also planning to call the local (and by local, I mean Glasgow, as there seem to only be Christian churches out here) mosques, temples, etc. to see if my kids could have a look around and learn a little about their customs.

/sidebar
Hey, Crabby, just to say- I pass the Glasgow Central Mosque (just South of the river) every day on the way back and forth to work and they seem to often have big ol' open days where everyone can come in and have a good look around and learn.

Also, the Sikh Gurdwara (free veg food for all!) on Berkeley Street encourages weekend drop-ins.

You'll probably have to go out of the city (Newton Mearns/Giffnock) in search of a Synagog though.

Ooh! Thanks for the head's-up! I knew there was a Hindu Temple somewhere downtown (I passed it all the time when I lived in the city), but I didn't know about any other specific ones -- especially not where to look for a Synagogue!

Larisa · **Posted:** Fri Jan 25, 2013 9:11 am

Here's a list of synagogues in Glasgow: http://www.maven.co.il/synagogues/C3430Y41336RX

Ariann · **Joined:** Sun Feb 12, 2012 4:10 pm **Posts:** 2081

And they are usually happy to give tours. I do that on a pretty regular basis.

choirqueer · **Posted:** Sat Jan 26, 2013 2:55 am

strawberryrock wrote:

http://www.amazon.com/My-Friends-Belief ... 0802773761
I was really into this book as a kid. (I was a nerd.) I highly recommend it. It says it's for high school kids but I definitely read it in elementary school, but I was also an advanced reader, so I don't know.

It also led to a weird phase where I was obsessed with saying prayers every day from different religions, which was pretty novel since I was raised Quaker and we didn't really do prayers per se. So I wasn't raised godlessly exactly, but my parents weren't super concerned about what I ended up believing, and I definitely felt like the weird one out religion-wise. I grew up in SE Portland, but I went to school with a TON of Evangelical Christians, which meant I ended up awkwardly hanging out during prayers during slumber parties and such. When I was younger I was just taught that everyone believed different things, though by late elementary school I definitely knew that some people, because of their religion, didn't like gay people or didn't think women should be able to have abortions and that was WRONG but also maybe I shouldn't talk about it at school that much. (I still did.)

I had the exact same experience with that exact same book! I was raised in a moderately observant Jewish family (I'm actually a Quaker now though!) so we did pray, but I totally was all into trying out all the different kinds of prayers too. I was probably 7 or 8 when I had that book.

Tzippy · **Posted:** Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:12 pm

Larisa wrote:

When we read "Grapes of Wrath" in high school, the teacher told us that it was significant that a character with the initials JC sacrifices himself in order to save everyone else, and I had no idea what she was talking about. I knew the basic story of the Christian bible from having done Godspell with my theatre group, but from that, I had learned "Judas betrayed Jesus, and so Jesus was killed." I didn't figure out the "Jesus' death was a sacrifice, so that everyone else's sins would be forgiven," part until college.

This reminds me that I missed a Christian reference at the end of Old Man and the Sea in 9th grade. We never talked about it in class and apparently I was just supposed to get it on my own. I missed the question about it on the test and I'm still annoyed about it to this day!

Post Punk Kitchen Forum

raising "godless" kids

Who is online