What if your childs....

[cyril_smear]

... in a religious(catholic) school. How's going to work out then?. Coming from a "part time'' and Atheist Dad.

I don't really want to lie my child should the god topic arise.

Also, I'd love to hear anecdotes from people who have been in a similar situation.

 

[weepiper]

All schools give kids the god bollocks. They just call the ones that aren't explicitly faith schools 'non-denominational'.

 

[Silas Loom]

Your child will still be taught about apostrophes, thankfully.

 

[Thimble Queen]

... in a religious(catholic) school. How's going to work out then?. Coming from a "part time'' and Atheist Dad.

I don't really want to lie my child should the god topic arise.

Also, I'd love to hear anecdotes from people who have been in a similar situation.

You dont have to tell them that it's all bollocks ... some people believe in God, some don't... etc

 

[redsquirrel]

All schools give kids the god bollocks. They just call the ones that aren't explicitly faith schools 'non-denominational'.

But while non-denominational schools might still have the 'act of worship' nonsense* they don't teach intelligent design like some faith schools, they also don't encourage social division in the way that faith schools do.

*And IME that act of worship was so wet it was meaningless.

... in a religious(catholic) school. How's going to work out then?. Coming from a "part time'' and Atheist Dad.

I don't really want to lie my child should the god topic arise.

Also, I'd love to hear anecdotes from people who have been in a similar situation.

What are you asking, how you should talk to your kid about religion? What issues might arise with the school?

For the second I'd find out what type of school it is - academy, free, etc - and how seriously it takes the religious message.

 

[BemusedbyLife]

... in a religious(catholic) school. How's going to work out then?. Coming from a "part time'' and Atheist Dad.

I don't really want to lie my child should the god topic arise.

Also, I'd love to hear anecdotes from people who have been in a similar situation.

Both my sisters and myself went to a Catholic school (primary and secondary) where they did their best to make good Catholics out of us, they failed abjectly to do so, we all figured out quite quickly it was a load of bollocks and just went through the motions without believing it.
You just kind of go along with the crowd, both my sisters have long straight black hair and my younger one used to take her MP3 player to Mass with the earphones under her hair and she was never caught.

 

[Pickman's model]

Your child will still be taught about apostrophes, thankfully.

behold the rise of the ultrapedant

 

[Pickman's model]

... in a religious(catholic) school. How's going to work out then?. Coming from a "part time'' and Atheist Dad.

I don't really want to lie my child should the god topic arise.

Also, I'd love to hear anecdotes from people who have been in a similar situation.

it's not the end of the world and it gives them something to rebel against. you wouldn't want to send them to atheist school, there's no better way to turn them into god-botherers.

 

[danny la rouge]

I don't really want to lie my child should the god topic arise

What would the circumstances be where you think you'd feel under pressure to lie?

"Some people believe in god, others don't".
"What do you believe,Dad?"
"I don't believe in god, but other people do. Your Granny, for example".
"Who is right?"
"That's a matter of opinion. People have all sorts of different beliefs, and that's OK".

 

[JimW]

Plus there'll be all sorts of other bollocks about history and society etc they'll get taught that you have to navigate with them so one more thing with perhaps a more straightforward answer is possibly the least of it.

 

[Thimble Queen]

What would the circumstances be where you think you'd feel under pressure to lie?

"Some people believe in god, others don't".
"What do you believe,Dad?"
"I don't believe in god, but other people do. Your Granny, for example".
"Who is right?"
"That's a matter of opinion. People have all sorts of different beliefs, and that's OK".

That's the type of conversation I was suggesting above. It seems like the sensible way to talk to kids about religions generally tbh.

 

[stavros]

How's going to work out then?

 

[Thora]

My oldest did two years in a Catholic school, a year in a nonreligious school and this year started at a CofE school.
He is a believer (though not enough to go to church out of school time - he wouldn't even do the remembrance day stuff with Beavers) and has a bible ("my favourite part is the crucifixion ").
If it comes up I am honest that I don't believe in any of that stuff. At the moment he says "well I do". Most kids grow out of it though.

 

[scifisam]

My daughter went to a CofE school. I think the only difference possibly was that they went to the local church for some stuff like harvest festival, but that was mainly singing and art (I don't remember much about god in it at all). I'm a lesbian atheist and the school were abs fine with that - the headmistress was a lesbian and her wife worked in the school too. A non-denominational school she went to before that did have a problem with my sexuality but this school didn't.

 

[scifisam]

But while non-denominational schools might still have the 'act of worship' nonsense* they don't teach intelligent design like some faith schools, they also don't encourage social division in the way that faith schools do.

*And IME that act of worship was so wet it was meaningless.

What are you asking, how you should talk to your kid about religion? What issues might arise with the school?

For the second I'd find out what type of school it is - academy, free, etc - and how seriously it takes the religious message.

Are you thinking of a particular school? I don't think ID is usually taught at state schools even if they're religious.

 

[clicker]

The Nativity play is normally a good laugh ; somebody always drops Jesus. They get to secondary school, have proper science lessons and realise they've been taught a crock of s*** . It all works out well in the end.

 

[bubblesmcgrath]

No more religion to be taught in Irish schools. Schools wont prepare kids for First Holy Communion or Confirmation anymore. It'll be down to patents and their local church.
Probably a good idea....

Personally, I always thought if I had kids I'd educate them at home. Schools are horrible places...and I think I'd make learning a lot more fun for kids at home.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Tell your child the truth. That they should take any teachings of 'god' with the large pinch of salt it deserves.

I had the great fortune(?) of being sent to a Catholic school.
During a religion lesson, where I was being told that some sky floating geeza made the world, I asked if she (my religion teacher) was disputing Darwin's theory, and if so, could she provide evidence that her theory trumped Darwin's theory. The teacher wasn't too impressed but she came up behind me, put her arms around me and whispered into my ear... "I'm just trying to do my job here, <insert my name>. You don't have to believe in it but you do have to let me do my job.
I let her do her job.

 

[Ax^]

odd i know and i know it quite rare but i went to the school in the 90's and was always catholic schools

but i can remember having a baptist, hindu and even a lapsed jewish religions education teacher...

sex ed at 10 which was early at the time

the fire, brimstone and guilt has really fallen out of the catholic education

they need to pull their socks up

 

[QueenOfGoths]

My son goes to a multi-faith church affiliated school and I have had much the conversation danny la rouge so eloquently posted above both about Jesus dying on the cross and the wearing of "headdresses", as he puts it, by Muslims.

I just try to give him as much information as i can so he can make his own informed choices when he is older

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

It depends what kind of atheist you are. If you're an atheist who undermines religions then you'll have to explain your hypocrisy to the child but if you're an atheist who denies god but acknowledges the value communal and personal relationship with God then it will be easier. You can tell them you wanted to encourage community and altruism and that school was more accessible to you.
That's how I would square it in my mind.

 

[mrs quoad]

behold the rise of the ultrapedant

@pickmans model

#apostophe’smatter

 

[bubblesmcgrath]

Tell your child the truth. That they should take any teachings of 'god' with the large pinch of salt it deserves.

I had the great fortune(?) of being sent to a Catholic school.
During a religion lesson, where I was being told that some sky floating geeza made the world, I asked if she (my religion teacher) was disputing Darwin's theory, and if so, could she provide evidence that her theory trumped Darwin's theory. The teacher wasn't too impressed but she came up behind me, put her arms around me and whispered into my ear... "I'm just trying to do my job here, <insert my name>. You don't have to believe in it but you do have to let me do my job.
I let her do her job.

Sure even the pope believes Darwin.
Who is to say that Adam and Eve weren't just an analogy for two bacteria that merged after they were deposited by a meteor or fifty when they hit the earth billions of years ago and the first sign of life emerged as a result?
Understand that the bible was written by men to explain what they couldnt explain but what we are beginning to grasp now scientifically.....the origin of life on earth.
Like I said to someone who said "there's no way god created the universe in 7 days"....."how long is a day in god time?" " what if a billion of our years is just a day to god?"...I was just challenging their narrow conception of time...but still.

Energy is where it's at....and energy is neither created nor destroyed....so personally I like to think of God as a massive form of ageless energy.

But that's just me.......

 

[cyril_smear]

Your child will still be taught about apostrophes, thankfully.

Taught about apostates? Oh my god(haha) it's worse than I thought.

 

[cyril_smear]

You dont have to tell them that it's all bollocks ... some people believe in God, some don't... etc

but it is all bollocks. I didn't have a choice in her education due to circumstances at the time.

 

[Thimble Queen]

but it is all bollocks. I didn't have a choice in her education due to circumstances at the time.

I don't disagree with you. But err age appropriate conversation and teaching your child not to be a dick

 

[cyril_smear]

eclesiastical

 

[geminisnake]

... in a religious(catholic) school. How's going to work out then?. Coming from a "part time'' and Atheist Dad.

I don't really want to lie my child should the god topic arise

I think it very much depends on the school and as others have pointed out on you. My daughter went to catholic school, she did her first holy communion, that was possibly the last time she voluntarily went to church She didn't believe, I never told her it was nonsense, I told her she could make up her own mind, she did get moaned at for lack of church attendance sometimes but they never said anything to me.

She doesn't think it's done her any harm and neither do I tbh.

Her brother went to the local village school(we'd moved by then) and it seemed there was more god stuff there tbh but he was always into dinosaurs and he knew about them and at the age of 7 ish, as we drove past the church one day he said 'God, it's a lot of nonsense isn't it?' What could we say We agreed that yes in our opinion it was but some people believed and he had to respect that and behave in church, I told him he didn't have to join in with anything he didn't want to, he didn't have to pray or whatever but he did have to be quiet while others did. His reason for it being nonsense was mostly because the bible failed to mention dinosaurs, so aye, teach them evolution if they don't already know it and you should be fine.

 

[cyril_smear]

My oldest did two years in a Catholic school, a year in a nonreligious school and this year started at a CofE school.
He is a believer (though not enough to go to church out of school time - he wouldn't even do the remembrance day stuff with Beavers) and has a bible ("my favourite part is the crucifixion ").
If it comes up I am honest that I don't believe in any of that stuff. At the moment he says "well I do". Most kids grow out of it though.

therein lies a potential problem. I.e why did you have me go to a religious school when you don't have a religion? Why have - what you think of as- bullshit spoon fed to me for the next ten years.

 

[redsquirrel]

Are you thinking of a particular school? I don't think ID is usually taught at state schools even if they're religious.

Most religious schools don't teach ID but the schools that do are religious. It's also religious schools that have recently been found promoting segregated classes.

I'm not going to say that going to a faith school is the end of the world (I went to a CoE primary, though not a very religious one) but they are divisive and damaging and should be done away with.