Saturday, March 23, 2013

Talking Religion With Our Kindergartener

I have blogged before on how annoyed I am with Lily's kindergarten shoving religion down her throat. I know, I know, it's in the curriculum. But still, tell the kids the story and be done with it. Don't teach them the songs and don't tell them that this is the reason for celebration instead of one option some people (ok, approximately 1.3 billion people) celebrate these days.

Thanks to the kindergarten teacher's love for religious indoctrination of little children, Lily sang me a very disturbing song while I was making my first coffee of the day and finishing with the statement: Jesus is alive!

Ok, again, thank you, kindergarten teacher. So before my coffee, I sit down with our 5-year old for a talk.

I asked her, what the teacher had told the class about Jesus. She said that he had died and then risen from the dead. I told her, that Jesus indeed had lived a long, long time ago and that he was a very good person who was always nice to everyone, helped people, healed them, and taught them how to create a better society by caring for each other. However, he also thought that he was the son of the god that the Jews worshipped, which is most likely not correct; some people in the government didn't like that the people followed Jesus and also didn't like his teaching so they figured out a plot to have him killed.

She followed me through that, repeated some parts to be sure that he had understood everything, and asked me about the empty grave in the end (thank you, kindergarten teacher, for teaching our daughter about grave robbery). I told her that some of his friends had taken his body away to keep it safe somewhere else, and that his friends, who believed to have seen him after his death were extremely upset and only thought to have seen him. And no, he did not rise from the dead, because if you're dead, you're dead. Except if you're not, and then you're a zombie, added Lily (a zombie conversation that I do not want to share at this point ensued).

While we are Atheists (and no, not one of the ones just waiting for a reason to believe!!) we respect other people's faith, no matter what it may be (ok, except Westboro Baptist, those are just disgusting!!); unfortunately, this is not always true in return. I seriously cannot stand if people, who consider us "lost" try to "save" our girls. We are raising our daughters to be critical free-thinkers, who look at matters from different aspects before forming their opinion. If they decide at some point, that Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any other religion is for them, we are standing behind them and support them in this decision. This summer, they will visit a Catholic wedding ceremony for the first time, and I am sure that there will be much to be discussed afterward. I just wished that the government would stay out of how we raise our children!

6 comments:

  1. So true! I wish the government would stay out of stuff like this.

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    1. Thanks, Jen! We are currently thinking about getting in touch with a humanist rights group in our area and see if there is any possibility to fight their involvement legally, citing freedom of (or from) religion as it is stated in our constitution. I'll write about it once we know more..

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  2. While I am religious, I respect that everyone has a right to decide what they do and do not believe in. I personally don't like religious education in school, because each separate religion has subtle differences and nuances, which can make all the difference to the interpretation of a story. We weren't allowed to do RE for this very reason when I was in primary school. I am afraid if you send your child to a public school, there should be no need for any religious education. If you want to teach your children religious studies, either take them to a religious school, or do it in your own time.

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    1. Thanks so much for your response. I have to add that "religion" in Germany is a lot more "casual" than in the US. It's just common custom to have your kids baptized and get married in a church, but most people only go to church once or twice a year. If you ask them which "God" they believe in, they won't be able to give you an answer. And seriously, if someone confronts me in a discussion with something like "well, I don't know what the bible says because I've never read it, but I believe in God", I just have to laugh. It is this kind of "religion" I really detest and this is what's being taught to the kids. There is a God and you have to believe in him, but that's all you need to know. I respect people with honest faith and a personal relationship with their god or godess, but people like I mentioned above I just cannot understand.

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  3. My dear mother keeps buying bible-story picture books and so on for her atheist grandkids, the eldest of whom came home from a visit to Nana's house one day and said with considerable incredulity to her father "Dad, did you know there are some grownups who still believe in Jesus?" It was pretty funny, but probably also a sign that respectful conversations like the one you describe with your daughter are important >.<

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    1. Love it! You have one smart kid! You could put the picture books among the fairy tales, or just use them to fire up the oven or so ;-)

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