Question for religious parents

As will her brothers.

Absolutely true, but at least they are being raised to feel like they
can talk publicly.

In article .com,
wrote:

As will her brothers.

Absolutely true, but at least they are being raised to feel like they
can talk publicly.


Provided they say the right thing.

I am not convinced that the rigid gender role expectations of kids
raised in this sort of conservative religion is any more damaging to the
girls than it is to the boys -- though the damage to the girls may be
more obvious.

--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

wrote in message
oups.com...
As will her brothers.

Absolutely true, but at least they are being raised to feel like they
can talk publicly.

They are also being raised to feel like girls - presumably including their
future wives - should be subservient and seen but not heard. This will have
a profound effect on their future relationships for their whole life.

In article .com,
wrote:

Would you have a problem with your child being friends with an atheist,
or being friends with a child who's parents are atheists?

No, of course not. How else do we get to make converts? :-)

The reason I ask is that I am an atheist and I have a daughter who is
almost two and I live in a very religious area. Now that my daughter is
not really a baby anymore I am starting to think about these issues and
wondering if she is going to have trouble having friends.

Funny, I have the same worry. We're wondering how to deal sensitively with
our son's stated plan of inviting his class to his one-man concert, where he's
going to play on his guitar (he can't *really* play it!) and sing them songs
about Jesus (mostly of his own composition), and apparently we're going to
have Bible readings and prayer too. DS1 is not quite 5yo! We are evangelical
Christians, but it's rather strange to find DS1 thinking of a backyard revival
meeting off his own bat!

The difference for us is that Aussies are, in general, not religious, and if
they are, the religion is often not Christianity. We live in an area where we
expect DS1's playmates to be of almost every known faith and none. I am
certainly hoping there is plenty of discussion in the playground. From a
societal cohesion POV, it is ignorance that breeds suspicion and hatred, not
knowledge obtained through dialogue. From a Christian POV, religious
discussion produces Christians.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"... if *I* was buying a baby I'd jolly well make sure it was at
least a two-tooth!"
Mary Grant Bruce, The Houses of the Eagle.

Joy wrote:
"Barbara" wrote in message
oups.com...
-L. wrote:
Barbara wrote:
SNIP
I tend to stay away from the bible thumpers,
because I'd rather not be told that I'm going to hell, or my kids
need to be
in church.
SNIP

And this would differ from religious people who would prefer that their
children not play with non-religious people ... exactly how?

Barbara

Non-religious people aren't going to tell you how wrong you are for
your beliefs and are not going to try to cram *their* beliefs down your
throat. One is an aggressive stance (proselytization) the other is a
passive stance.

The question wasn't related to people who want to jam religion down
your throat. The question was whether your average religious person
would mind their kid being friendly with an atheist child. I thought
not. Then someone popped up saying that she would prefer that her
child not associate with *bible thumpers* -- which in that context I
took to mean *any* religious person.

from http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-political-epithets

Bible thumper
n. Offensive.
Used as a disparaging term for a Christian, especially a fundamentalist or
evangelical Christian, considered to be overly zealous in haranguing or
censuring others.

Yep, I know what the word means. And again, in context, I understood
that the person to whose post I was responding categorized ALL
religious people as *Bible thumpers* -- and that she would prefer that
her children not associate with any of them.

Barbara

Barbara wrote:
The question wasn't related to people who want to jam religion down
your throat. The question was whether your average religious person
would mind their kid being friendly with an atheist child. I thought
not. Then someone popped up saying that she would prefer that her
child not associate with *bible thumpers* -- which in that context I
took to mean *any* religious person.

"Bible thumper" is slang for an Evangelical Christian.

And I maintain -- why is it
*more* acceptable for non-religious people to shun religious people
than vice versa? Perhaps I misinterpreted the words of the OP, and
what she REALLY meant to say was that while she welcomed her children's
friendships not only with people in the communities she mentioned, but
with religious people of all persuasions, she would prefer that they
need befriend the children of prostelytizers.

Frankly, I've encountered a lot more NON-religious people who feel free
to call me crazy for my beliefs, and who challenge me at every step,
than I ever have religious people trying to proselytize. I find both
equally offensive, however.

Again, however, most *religious* people do not proselytize.

I disagree. I suspect those who proselytize consider themselves *very*
religious.

-L.

Chookie wrote:

snip


No, of course not. How else do we get to make converts? :-)

God I hate that attitude.

snip

From a Christian POV, religious
discussion produces Christians.

And that one as well. FWIW not all "Christians" share those beliefs.

-L.

No, of course not. How else do we get to make converts? :-)

I assume by your smiley that you are mostly teasing right? Because that
is another thing I worry about, not just for my daughter but for
myself. I just want to live my life, I don't want religious pressures
from anyone at all.

I don't want to take your words out of context but, comments like these
make a lot of atheists angry because it's almost a threat that
translates into "we'll get you yet"...I dunno.

wrote:
No, of course not. How else do we get to make converts? :-)

I assume by your smiley that you are mostly teasing right? Because that
is another thing I worry about, not just for my daughter but for
myself. I just want to live my life, I don't want religious pressures
from anyone at all.

I don't want to take your words out of context but, comments like these
make a lot of atheists angry because it's almost a threat that
translates into "we'll get you yet"...I dunno.

I don't see it as that, I just find it completely disrepectful of other
religions (or lack there of).

-L.

In article ,
Ericka Kammerer wrote:

Neither your child nor you should be discussing religion
with other folks. There's a reason Miss Manners declares religion
out of bounds for polite social conversation.

Yep. No discussing religion, politics, sex or death.

The only problem is that IME this means that some people *never* get around to
thinking about these subjects (well, apart from sex, I imagine!) at all...
until a crisis occurs. They then suffer a great deal from having to grow so
much in a short time. For one example, see "Sofia Petrovna", by Lydia
Chukovskaya -- I believe it's available in translation now. Or you may
already know people who refuse to think. They've always voted for party X,
thank you very much...

Most of interesting subjects have political or religious overtones, anyhow.
Even the weather, these days! I wonder what Miss Manners *does* talk about.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"... if *I* was buying a baby I'd jolly well make sure it was at
least a two-tooth!"
Mary Grant Bruce, The Houses of the Eagle.