Honest Parenting: Religion

Chris and I are both atheist and we both were Christian at one point in our lives.  Figuring out that we were atheist took many years of self discovery and learning about the various choices for religion and faith.  As we try to teach our children about life and the world, the one thing we are both adamant about is that their belief system is a personal choice.  Our children may not choose to be atheist and that’s okay with us.

Our children are incredibly inquisitive and there have been many questions on the topic of religion, church, god, and death:

What is church? [Some people believe in something called god.  Church is were they go to celebrate their belief in god.]

Can we go to church? [When you are old enough to understand what happens at church and what they mean and are saying at church, then you are welcome to go to all the different kinds of churches.]  When will I be old enough? [I don’t know.  I went to church when I was a teenager, but I wish I had waited until I was a little older.  I tried it again when I was 20 and that’s when I understood it wasn’t right for me.]  How many different kinds of churches are there? [A lot.  I’m not sure how many.  There are approximately 5 major religions, but there may be many different kinds of churches within those religions.]

What is god? [It depends on which god a person believes in.  Sometimes there is one god and sometimes there is more than one god.  In a most basic sense, people believe god is the being that created everything in the world and universe.]

Do you believe in god?  [I don’t believe in god.]  Why not? [I did a lot of reading, studying, and visiting churches to figure out if believing in god was something that made sense to me.  After all my experiences and learning, it didn’t feel right for me.]

Does Gigi/Grandma/Grandpa/Uncle John/Foster Mom/Friends believe in god?  [I don’t know, you would have to ask them.]

What happens when you die? [Well, your body stops living and decomposes.]  No, I mean what happens to the inside part of you? [I don’t know and I don’t think anyone knows for sure.  I think that our bodies decompose back into the Earth and that our memory lives on with the people who knew us, but that we don’t have an ‘inside part of us’ that some people call a soul.  Other people believe that your body dies, but believe there is something called a soul that is reborn into someone or something else, like an animal.  Still other people believe that there is a special place where your soul goes to stay after your body dies.]