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Godless Children vs. Religious Families: How Can Atheist Parents Balance Them?


Religion, Atheism, Family Values: Are Religion & God Needed for Family Values?:

America's Christian Right invests a lot of effort arguing for a connection between family values and their religion, but what basic family values require their religion or belief in their god? Godless families exist because values like love, respect, and sacrifice don't depend upon theism. You don't even have to be a theist to oppose abortion or support sexual abstinence until marriage. None of the positive family values necessary for raising healthy children are undermined by being godless. Religion, Atheism, Family Values

Godless Children & Family Religious Traditions: What Should Atheists Do?:

A difficult issue for godless parents raising their children without religion is dealing with the religious traditions in their extended families. If the parents themselves were raised without gods or religion, this isn't an issue, but most do come from at least marginally religious families which have at least a few religious traditions, even if it's merely to attend religious worship services on major holidays. The more devout a family is, the more difficult it may be to exclude yourselves and your children. Godless Children & Family Religious Traditions

Invitations to Religious Services:

What should you do if your child is invited to attend religious services with friends of theirs? There is no easy answer because the most fundamental response is "it depends" - and it depends on quite a lot of things which necessarily change from context to context. Initially at least you should treat such an invitation just as you would treat any other invitation made for your child. How well do you know the people have have invited your child to attend religious services? Would you trust them to take your child to the park or a museum? If not, why allow them to take her to church? Invitations to Religious Services

What Happens when your Family Pushes Religion on your Kids?:

If you are trying to raise your children without also forcing them to adopt a particular religious faith, there can be a lot of conflict with other family members who honestly believe that religion and God are key factors in a good and moral upbringing. Resolving that conflict is necessary not only for your relationships with your family, but also to ensure that your child doesn't become confused or torn between loved ones. Pushing Religion on Children

Attending Religious Services:

You may not be raising your child to follow any particular religion and you may in fact be encouraging your child to learn about many different religious beliefs on an equal basis, but that doesn't mean that she will never become interested in actively participating in one particular religious faith. You may at some time be faced with a request to regularly attend a church, a synagogue, a mosque, or some other site for religious services. Attending Religious Services

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