Discover Their Own Truths
My wife and I are not religious people. We were both raised in Christian homes, but do not currently follow any organized religion. The question before us, then, is how to best allow our children to decide for themselves what they believe.
Certainly, a child raised in a Christian home has a higher likelihood of becoming a Christian himself than one who was raised by parents following Islam or Buddhism or another faith. As well, atheist parents certainly turn-out a higher percentage of atheist children. A sizable percentage of people simply adopt the beliefs (or non-beliefs) of their parents without much thoughtful consideration.
So, what do we do? How do we make certain our children are not simply following our beliefs? How do we make sure they’re not telling us what they think we want them to say? We want them to make their own decisions. We want them to make their own paths and form their own conclusions.
When the question of religion comes up, we tell them that we do not believe in an all-powerful god, but that many others do. We allow them to ask questions and we try to answer them as neutrally as possible. They know that we do not believe – that’s unavoidable – but we would never tell *them* what to believe.
Politics is the same way. They hear Mama and I talking about the issues, about our philosophies, and about our beliefs. But we try as best as possible, keeping our own biases in mind, to give them all sides of the argument. It’s difficult to avoid indoctrinating a child in one’s beliefs, but if we’re truly trying to free them, it’s a goal we must pursue. Keeping our own biases in mind, we simply give them the information, discuss whatever they’re interested in, and allow them to discover their own truths.