Slate: 'Is religion good for children?'

Dick Whitman · Aug 1, 2014

My brother-in-law does believe in evolution. They're pretty progressive church-goers. The kids repeat the myths as fact, but I have to guess that it's kind of like Santa - they'll figure it out on their own eventually.

Maybe Richard Dawkins's "The God Delusion."

My wife's cousin stopped by one time. She went to Dinesh's college in the Empire State Building, and is all-in on fundamentalism. Afterward, we wondered if she had seen Christopher Hitchens's "God is Not Good" lounging out on an end table. Oops.

Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!! · Aug 1, 2014

RecoveringJournalist said:

Dick Whitman said:

We had an interesting evening last night, which fit in nicely with this conversation here.

For his birthday, my 5-year-old had received a Noah's Ark memory/matching game. (We humorously suspected it was re-gifted.)

When I got home, the box was out on the table, and he asked to play. At first, I figured he just thought it was an animal matching game. But within seconds, he said, "Dad, why did god flood the world?"

I said, "Well, that's actually not true. Do you know what a myth is?"

And we talked about how people, in the "olden days" before science was advanced like it is now, had to make up stories to explain the world. I told him this was different than a "fairy tale" (his term for fiction), because people certainly did believe these stories to be true at one time. He asked about Jonah and the whale, and I explained that that was also a myth, but that there was a great lesson to be learned from it about perseverence through difficult situations. I volunteered that Adam and Eve was also a myth, because we know that people really arrived via evolution. I volunteered the Ten Commandments story as another example. He was not familiar with it.

I then explained the difference between the Old and New Testament, and how the Old Testament was not very reliable, but instead basically a book of mythology. I said: "For example, the Old Testament says that the earth is only 6,000 years old. But we know it's billions of years old, right?" He thought it was pretty funny that the Old Testament said that.

He then asked, "Is Jesus real?" I told him that yes, he was.

We then moved onto discussing how different cultures and societies have their own mythology, like ancient Rome, ancient Greece, and Native Americans. I told him that the ancient Greeks and Romans thought there were many, many gods, not just one. He thought this was exciting, and we ended up finding a Roman myth on the Internet and reading it together.

So I guess I'm on the hook for some mythology books for children now.

All in all, a very constructive conversation for both of us. (My wife was in the room, too, but doing something else.)
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My sons, who pray every day and go to church almost every week, get Star Wars figures, legos and Imaginext playsets for their birthday, but we're weird like that.
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My mother - who prolly would have become a nun had she not gotten married* - does this. All the kids some type of religious-themed gift for birthdays and gift-giving holidays.

*I wouldn't be surprised to see her join a convent if she outlives my dad.

Iron_chet · Aug 1, 2014

My MIL gives us all religious books for the kids, My First Bible, Nativity Story, as well as ones with more covert titles like World of Wonder, etc.

I am not thrilled but don't really care. If the kids can believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny I don't see a big harm in believing in heaven if it helps them process tough questions.

RecoveringJournalist · Aug 1, 2014

My oldest was given a toy replica of Noah's Ark for his birthday when he was 3 or so. It gets blown up by the Milennium Falcon whenever my kids play Star Wars.

Walter Lippmann · Aug 1, 2014

Not much is duller than listening to someone argue why God doesn't exist, especially those who fawn over Dawkins and Hitchens.

OK, watching some guy argue for creationism using the example of a banana is duller.

Dick Whitman · Aug 1, 2014

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Dick Whitman · Aug 1, 2014

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SpeedTchr · Aug 1, 2014

Dick Whitman said:

I'm a nice person. I have empathy. I just couldn't imagine making it part of my daily routine to burst people's bubbles on a Web site. I'd feel awful about it. Every time.
Click to expand...

In a thread where you shit all over the heart-held beliefs of others, this is rich.

SnarkShark · Aug 1, 2014

SpeedTchr said:

Dick Whitman said:

I'm a nice person. I have empathy. I just couldn't imagine making it part of my daily routine to burst people's bubbles on a Web site. I'd feel awful about it. Every time.
Click to expand...

In a thread where you shit all over the heart-held beliefs of others, this is rich.
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The funniest thing I've read all day.

Dick Whitman · Aug 1, 2014

SpeedTchr said:

Dick Whitman said:

I'm a nice person. I have empathy. I just couldn't imagine making it part of my daily routine to burst people's bubbles on a Web site. I'd feel awful about it. Every time.
Click to expand...

In a thread where you shit all over the heart-held beliefs of others, this is rich.
Click to expand...

Completely different animals.

I think the Old Testament is mythology. The Catholic church, in fact, has pretty much acknowledged that the Old Testament is mythology. You're welcome to debate it. But history, and the history of religion and mythology, are interesting to me.

That's completley different than what Lippmann does, which is bounce around announcing how stupid people are. For kicks.

3_Octave_Fart · Aug 1, 2014

SpeedTchr said:

Dick Whitman said:

I'm a nice person. I have empathy. I just couldn't imagine making it part of my daily routine to burst people's bubbles on a Web site. I'd feel awful about it. Every time.
Click to expand...

In a thread where you shit all over the heart-held beliefs of others, this is rich.
Click to expand...

✓

Alma · Aug 1, 2014

Dick Whitman said:

We had an interesting evening last night, which fit in nicely with this conversation here.

For his birthday, my 5-year-old had received a Noah's Ark memory/matching game. (We humorously suspected it was re-gifted.)

When I got home, the box was out on the table, and he asked to play. At first, I figured he just thought it was an animal matching game. But within seconds, he said, "Dad, why did god flood the world?"

I said, "Well, that's actually not true. Do you know what a myth is?"

And we talked about how people, in the "olden days" before science was advanced like it is now, had to make up stories to explain the world. I told him this was different than a "fairy tale" (his term for fiction), because people certainly did believe these stories to be true at one time. He asked about Jonah and the whale, and I explained that that was also a myth, but that there was a great lesson to be learned from it about perseverence through difficult situations. I volunteered that Adam and Eve was also a myth, because we know that people really arrived via evolution. I volunteered the Ten Commandments story as another example. He was not familiar with it.

I then explained the difference between the Old and New Testament, and how the Old Testament was not very reliable, but instead basically a book of mythology. I said: "For example, the Old Testament says that the earth is only 6,000 years old. But we know it's billions of years old, right?" He thought it was pretty funny that the Old Testament said that.

He then asked, "Is Jesus real?" I told him that yes, he was.

We then moved onto discussing how different cultures and societies have their own mythology, like ancient Rome, ancient Greece, and Native Americans. I told him that the ancient Greeks and Romans thought there were many, many gods, not just one. He thought this was exciting, and we ended up finding a Roman myth on the Internet and reading it together.

So I guess I'm on the hook for some mythology books for children now.

All in all, a very constructive conversation for both of us. (My wife was in the room, too, but doing something else.)
Click to expand...

The key question isn't: Is Jesus real?

It's: Did Jesus do what the Bible said he did?

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Slate: 'Is religion good for children?'

Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!! Well-Known Member

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Slate: 'Is religion good for children?'

Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

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Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

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