Will/do your kids attend religious instruction?

flyingsaucer

Do you plan to have your kids attend religious instruction (or do they). Why/why not? If your kids already attend, do they like or hate it? My kids are biracial. I am white/Jewish and DH is West Indian/Caribbean and Methodist. We are not religious AT ALL. DH was forced to attend church A LOT as a kid and refused to go as soon as he became old enough to do so. My family was very much into Jewish culture and traditions/holidays but are all pretty much atheists. I am agnostic, but I still feel very connected to my Jewish culture (mostly because I learned it from my grandparents who I was VERY close to and both passed away). We have decided to have DS start Hebrew School. Mostly, we want our kids to learn about and feel connected to both of their cultures, and Judaism is mine (unlike DH that has a strong culture in addition to his religion). We found a local temple that is very diverse and open to multi ethnic, multi faith families and focuses more on holidays, traditions and mitzvah (good deeds/charity) with young kids. I never attended Hebrew school as a kid, so it should be an interesting learning experience for all of us! ETA: Hebrew School is Sundays from 9-11am (not full time instruction)

littlestjerry

No. This city is filled to the brim with Catholic schools, and that's where DH and his siblings went growing up. DH said that little kid him thought public school kids were going to hell. So, absolutely no to that, although MIL won't be pleased. The most we might do is possibly start going to the Unitarian Church again when he's older. We haven't been there in years though, and I don't like having to get moving so early on Sunday mornings.

Nita2603

Nope. Not religious and do not want to introduce my kids to it.

missyishere

edited for reading failure. No religious instruction outside of the home, but we plan to teach her from a more historical perspective eventually. we hope to show her there is much more to the world than just Christianity.

klondikebar

We are atheists, but both grew up going to Christian churches. My children do learn about the different religions of the world, but we have not encouraged a belief in any of them.

msdrdg

Nope.  DH and I were both raised Catholic, him more than me.  MIL has a Masters of Divinity.  My parents have recently become VERY active in their church.
I lost faith and am pretty much agnostic.  DH is somewhere between agnostic and atheist. 
DS is not baptized.  Shockingly MIL actually agrees with that, said not to bother.  My Dad is still upset over it.
I have no problem with DS learning about religion on his own, but I will not introduce it.

fancynewbeesly

kgopel said:

Do you plan to have your kids attend religious instruction (or do they). Why/why not? If your kids already attend, do they like or hate it? My kids are biracial. I am white/Jewish and DH is West Indian/Caribbean and Methodist. We are not religious AT ALL. DH was forced to attend church A LOT as a kid and refused to go as soon as he became old enough to do so. My family was very much into Jewish culture and traditions/holidays but are all pretty much atheists. I am agnostic, but I still feel very connected to my Jewish culture (mostly because I learned it from my grandparents who I was VERY close to and both passed away). We have decided to have DS start Hebrew School. Mostly, we want our kids to learn about and feel connected to both of their cultures, and Judaism is mine (unlike DH that has a strong culture in addition to his religion). We found a local temple that is very diverse and open to multi ethnic, multi faith families and focuses more on holidays, traditions and mitzvah (good deeds/charity) with young kids. I never attended Hebrew school as a kid, so it should be an interesting learning experience for all of us! ETA: Hebrew School is Sundays from 9-11am (not full time instruction)

This is us. My husband is Catholic though and except for the secular version of Christmas, doesn't care either way. My family and upbringing are conservative Jews. My mom, aunt, grandparents immigrated to the US from Israel in 1950s. I am very much tied to the culure-not so much the Religious part of it. When Reese gets old enough, we will start her in Hebrew school

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chardonnay24

No, we are not religious.

However, one of the schools that we are considering is Catholic so he'll definitely be exposed to it there. The reason it's on our list, though, is because it is a great school that just happens to be Catholic. They do not shove it down your throat, although it is definitely part of the curriculum. They are open to students of all faiths and make a point to study world religions.

LadyXaverian

She'll attend Sunday school on Sunday mornings while we're at church. So far as actual schooling is concerned, at this point we plan to send her to public school.

I received religious ed growing up in public Catholic schools  and DH went to private Christian school, but we'd rather she get her religious education more from us and our church than her school.

Littledeer84

Not sure yet. DH teaches in the Catholic schools here, so it is something we are considering. I need to do more research before we figure it out.

MelissaRae1525

SO is catholic ad I'm Presbyterian. We had him baptized at SOs church and will do so at mine soon. I've thought about sending him to catholic/Christian school because I think it's better than our public schools as far as discipline and focus on school work. As far as Sunday school ill take him with me when I go, and probably to VBS and Sunday evening kids church

virgin4lyfe

crystaladult said:

mbenit4 said:

Nope. Religion has impeded science for so long that I do not trust any religious institutions to educate my child.

I really don't think religion has impeded science. One could believe in both. Not meaning you specifically.

You don't have to believe in science. And that wasn't an opinion, it's a fact (e.g., historically scientists were charged with heresy and jailed, and for a modern day example see stem cell research).

But there are definitely ways to "believe" in both. My youth group used to talk about The Big Bang going along with the first part of Genesis where God makes the world. Things can work together depending on how you want to view it.

NativeFloridian

Eh.  Not really.  I was raised Roman Catholic and have an aversion to religion as a result, which I'm attempting to get over because I also believe that diversity is the fruit of life and I don't want to inadvertently teach my kids to hate religious people.  I seriously went into crisis mode the first time I met a gay person because I liked him so much and I felt so sinful.  Never want my kids to feel that way, even if it is in the opposite direction.

We've chosen Waldorf education for our kids and it's so versatile and easy to incorporate any belief system into.  Our curriculum mixes up unbiased focus on stories about saints (St. Michael, St. Lucia, etc.), pagan celebrations, even fairy tales, and tosses them in with academics and creative pursuit.  Thus my "not really" answer.

Rach21

I was raised in a Christian home, came into my own faith in Jesus when I was younger. When I was in college, I explored other religions and philosophies but I came back to Christianity.

DH was raised in a "whatever you want to believe" home, so he never went to church growing up. When he was in college, part of his degree requirements included taking a couple of philosophical courses. He took an overview of world religions and a class about the Bible at the same time. Part of his assignments for the world religions class was to attend different worship services of the main faiths (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism). Doing all of that and reading the Bible at the same time, he just felt like the Bible was true and he became a Christian. We met two years later and are both active members at our church.

We have family devotions with G, pray with him, and we take him to Sunday School. DH and I also host Bible studies and stuff in our home, so often Gideon is around when we discuss the Bible and everyday topics in light of the Gospel with other families. Our "religious instruction" is basically living out what we believe in front of Gideon and teaching him the basics. I don't think we would ever send G to a parochial school because we don't think that cloistering G off with other folks who only believe like we do is going to sway G one way or another. No matter what we teach him about Bible, Gideon's faith needs to be his own and not just something we hand down to him.

thatoneredhead

I went to a Christian school for middle school, high school, and a year of college. I don't like religion and spirituality cant be taught in a class room. I can also say that I was in a senior level apologetics class with all the preacher boys and thought it was an absolute joke. If I could peg one thing that really did it in for my christianity, it was that class. 

I can say my education was subpar on many subjects. I actually fact check with my husband all the time on historical things because alot was omitted or had a spin on it that was incorrect. I also didnt read any of the things you read in high school. I read the Bible. Over and over.

My kid will learn about religion when he is interested in it and it will be presented with the same casual, educational level as anything else.

thatoneredhead

mbenit4 said:

Nope. Religion has impeded science for so long that I do not trust any religious institutions to educate my child.

I really don't think religion has impeded science. One could believe in both. Not meaning you specifically.

I think it impedes science in that it makes it useless for a good portion of our population that could be greatly contributing to it.

To join any church Ive ever been to (that does membership), you must publicly say that you believe what the church believes. That always includes creationism. I believe that Genesis is the "mommy and daddy loved each other so much..." version of our creation and evolution is the "sperm and egg" version. My believing it was poetic disqualified me from church membership even though it had nothing to do with my spirituality. 

If you are forced to make a choice, it impedes one of them. 

Mags748

I was raised Catholic and went to a Catholic school from K-8th grade and it was a very good education. We had a short religion class every day, but from what I remember, religion was kept out of the other subjects. I even remember learning a little about evolution during biology but we didn't dwell on it. I went on to public high school and felt like my freshman year was just basically a review of what we did in 7th and 8th grade (my freshman Science book was the exact same book we had used in 6th grade!).

My husband grew up Lutheran (ELCA), and we belong to the church he grew up in now, and that is where our kids were baptized. DS goes to Sunday school there now and DD will start next year. We are honestly not that religious now, and although we make sure DS gets to Sunday school almost every week, we do not attend the church service all that often. I have a background in Science (bachelor's in Zoology, so obviously pro evolution and then went back to school to obtain my RN), so I do have a hard time with my faith. However, we both feel that there are many positive moral lessons and a sense of community that comes with the religious education at our church, so I don't see any negatives to sending my kids through classes there. They can decide when they are older what there beliefs are.

nanabanana06

No. I'm pagan, SO is athiest. I am a member of a church and do participate in sabbats and some other events. If I was more active I'd take the steps to become a priestess, but I aint got time for that. When the kids get older we have discussed allowing them to go to an appropriate sabbat (no way in heck will my kids be going to beltaine or samhain before they can understand it). Then letting them figure things out for themselves. Like I did. I do not keep my alter or things where they can see them or get to them. Partially because there is dangerous objects and I don't want them showing their friends it.

kwitt22

I find the bump so interesting on the subject of religion. I have never seen such a high concentration of atheist and agnostic in the real world. Maybe it's just the area I am from. Anyway I was raised orthodox and DH catholic. We practice Catholicism as a family. I would like her to go to PSR and she is attending a Christian preschool.

missyishere

I think there probably are a lot more non believers IRL @kwitt2, but they just don't live it out loud. I know many people on here fear family repercussions if they verbalized their lack of belief.

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missyishere

mbenit4 said:

What I find interesting is how negative it has been for some. Not my experience at all. For me a negative experience at a church or with family would not cause me to lose faith. I find other people's stories if why they lost it interesting though.

I didn't have a negative church experience.  I am just sad my family didn't give me an option to think on my own.  I had to be baptized, go to mass every weekend, complete communion, finish confirmation, and volunteer for the church.  I wish my family gave me the opportunity to be free of religion until I was old enough to understand it.  

littlestjerry

I was more into church as a kid/tween and did not have negative experiences there. As I've gotten older, I've come to see organized religion as a poison to society. Not a belief in God, but actual religious institutions. DH's experiences in Catholic school have only further solidified that for me.

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klondikebar

My church experience wasn't negative either. If I had to pick a church to go to, it would be the one I grew up in. Great people, nonjudgmental, nothing extreme, into community service etc.

I just stopped believing because it never made sense to me. I don't think I really believed in the first place. I just felt like I was supposed to.

missyishere

I am no longer a believer @mbenit4.  I've always had doubts growing up, but I just didn't question it, because hello catholic guilt.  I'd say I believed in a higher power until a few years ago, actually. I took a Western Civ Religion course a few years ago, and after doing some learning and research for that class, I began to see the faults in what I was taught to believe.  Then I began to actually read the Bible... 

What really put the nail in the coffin was losing my mother at only 47.  Although far worse things happen in the world than losing my mom, I just couldn't believe some higher power allegedly in charge of us could allow for terrible things to happen.

CurlyQ284

DH and I are both agnostic and are raising my SDs and DS similarly (SDs mom is agnostic too). SDs have been to Sunday school with their cousins but now they say there's better things to do on Sunday which kind of makes me LOL.

My parents didn't push faith but we were baptized Episcopalian. We went to a Catholic high school but 60% of the students were not Catholic so it wasn't too in-your-face. I joined the choir and sang at mass every month. I didn't believe but had respect for religion.

DHs family is Southern Baptist but he was never baptized. His mom wanted him to choose when he was old enough but now she's not happy that he chose nothing lol. He is kind of ornery so he gets into arguments with his family on occasion.

Then we moved to Memphis. I have never heard so many horrible things said by religious people, directed at me mostly. We lived there for three years and it was downright ugly. We are back up north in my hometown and its much more pleasant. Living there turned me 100% off to any kind of religion. So no, no religious schooling of any kind. I can't trust them now that I've lived through that.

Kitiara5512

He will go to Sunday classes at our "church"

Two fucking kid free hours every Sunday? Hell yeah!!! Besides, I want him to know what he will spend his life running from.

scoutkate

I am very happy with the Methodist church that we currently attend, at which Betsy attends Sunday school (and loves it).  As long as we feel like the pastors and general population of the church are in line with our religious, social, and political ideals, we will continue to attend and have Betsy attend, although we will let her her decide for herself if she wants to attend when she's older.  She attended a Christian daycare until recently, but her current school (she'll go there through 12th grade) is not affiliated with any religion.   

zeptattoo

Yes, but only Sunday school.  Our church is Lutheran and is not strict.  If he decides religion is not for him then that is fine by us.  

citygirl22

DS goes to Hebrew School on Sundays. DH and I are both Jewish and we feel it is important for them to be able to read and understand Hebrew and learn above and beyond what we can teach them at home. We also want to make sure they are prepared for their Bar/Bat Mitzvah and be with other friends going through the same thing.

They go to public school and we live in a good school district.