Raising atheist kids?

Building up to a rant for a while now... partly brought on by this rather unpleasant comment to a post of mine. (Someone has issues...)

It was a conversation I had about my children growing up. What they might become and that I will be proud of what they will achieve. Also if they happen to follow a faith, it would be their choice.
But it was the comment (well intentioned) of 'that's good' about referring to faith that has been bugging me.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it a christian DUTY to raise your kids as christians? Certainly all the marriages and baptisms I've been to have STRONGLY suggested it.

So it's OK for christians to educate/impose/indoctrinate beliefs but when an atheist puts forward their opinions...

I was lucky enough to have been brought up in UK which is mostly agnostic or apathetic towards religion. And I was not influenced by my parents to what I should believe. I became an agnostic while in a church primary school and an atheist by the time I was in my teens. I came to my own decision after a lot of introspection. In my twenties I considered some form of spirituality but after observing and talking to a range of people I realised that you don't have to have a 'faith' to be good.

I don't think I can bring myself to go as far as Richard Dawkins and claim that religious upbringing is a form of 'child abuse'. Parents have a right to bring up children by their moral standards and I have no right to criticise. I think I am doing my best; they honestly think they are doing theirs.

However. I will teach my children to think critically. I will encourage them to question why. I would expect them to find out things for themselves and think seriously about why someone else might want you to believe what they believe.
I will encourage them to give people a chance. To try not to judge others on first impressions. Always try to end an argument; never to start one. Bare in mind the consequences of your actions. And try to do what you feel is right.

It's a big task. And I suspect I will make many mistakes. What I will NOT do is bring up children on the morality of a flawed 'holy' book full of contradictions, mythology and patronising devotion to a personification of ancient mankind's ignorance. My children deserve better than that.

Rant over. ;-)

Football and gods. My dreadful hypocrisy?

And I mean PROPER football! Sorry my American friends but when you CARRY the ball for most of the game, it's a bit of a misnomer. Our beautiful game is not 'soccer'! Grrr. ;-)

If you are passionate about something, it can be frustrating when people don't have the same ideas. For example, I see NO reason why anybody should support Tottenham Hotspurs (AKA - 'The Scum'). They are a grossly overrated team who are the inferior London rivals of Arsenal. Whenever I meet such a misguided fan, I feel an urge to mock them. Remorselessly.

But I'm mature enough to realise that it is all banter. Some of it is very insulting, quite often abusive, but football does bring out a savage tribe mentality in its fans. (Impressively, you don't seem to get this in American sports.) So when fans say football is their 'religion', they are not far wrong.

• It sometimes requires a heroic amount of faith.
• You often deny the obvious flaws in your team's performance and blame others. (The ref being a common reciever of my displeasure!)
• Everyone else's team is rubbish!
• You spend far too much time devoted to your team which could be better spent doing many other things.
• You spend far too much money to prove your loyalty.
• You evangalise about your team to the point of obnoxiousness!
• You find yourself doing little rituals to change the outcome of the game.
• You wear clothing that identifies you with your team.
• You encourage your children to follow your team. Being a Man United fan would be a terrible, terrible crime against everything you stand for.
• No-one will ever persuade you to support anyone else.
  

Oh my non-existent gods... I am a football equivalent of a creationist!!!
And the scary thing is that you can't become an 'Afootballist'.

I think I am beyond saving ;-)

Godless society?

Phew! Reports written, Ofsted visit over and revision for my class begins...
I've also got to write a 2000 word story, create a script for a short film and (as I promised myself) keep this blog up to date!

Enough of my whining... ;-)

So, two weeks ago, I had the unfortunate chance to meet up with the real life equivalent of the 'Shameless' family. (Non UK: Shameless is a British TV program). I try not to be a snob, but when you get a group of foul-mouthed, obese scumbags take over a train carriage (age range 2 to 50) a little bit of liberal sympathy shrivels away.

The cast:
Aggressive 'father' whose advice consists of monosyllabic demands.
Loud mother who clearly takes pride in the amount of gold items she can pin, drape over, pierce, hang over her tracksuit.
Another pair of adults who behave as badly as the kids.
Three teenage daughters (clones of the mother), one of them pregnant (stereotypical) each with their own kids running rampant.
And the kids who have no responsibility; care about the other passengers; wilfully damage property and show no respect to their 'parents'.

You know that if you only look at them, you will get a torrent of abuse because you have clearly shown them some disrespect. They think the world owes them, they blame anyone else for their situation and that they have the right to do what they want.

It's wrong.

People shouldn't be like this. That entire family had no self respect so why should I expect them to be able to show respect to anyone else?

So what is the solution? Well I hear an awful lot about this being a result of a 'godless society' and, I suppose, if you like simple answers to BIG questions then clearly this seems obvious. (You probably think the world was created in six days, evolution is a myth and you truly believe in mythology...)

The idea of this all being attributed to atheism is laughable but all too common. Granted, the word 'atheism' is hardly mentioned but 'godless' is. Religion will not solve this problem. It had its chance and we are still facing the repercussions of its mistakes centuries later.

What religion does offer is a way to ‘avoid responsibility’. (This may take some explaining) You can claim an event in your life (good or bad) is ‘god’s will’ or that god wants you to do a certain thing. See? It’s already out of your hands. ;-)
It would be claimed that religion provides a role model when all it is doing is claiming credit for the deeds of kind-hearted people!
And of course, the marvellous lie that religion provides a ‘moral compass’. Utter, utter, BS!

It’s the ‘moral compass’ that makes me so furious. I’m not a violent person but I really want to punch someone when I hear that from a smug, self-satisfied, ignorant, moron.



The answer? I wish I had it but I truly believe that education, positive role models and the end of our exploitive, sensationalist media would make a huge difference to people’s ways of thinking.

It is one of my core reasons for being a teacher. I want to offer stability, for at least a few hours, in a child’s life. I want to provide the academic and social skills that will help them. I want to give them the best chance in life.

I’m not saying I’m a better person: I’m just a nice person hoping to make a difference.

Make the world a better place.

One child in Africa dies every 30 seconds.

Comic Relief (UK charity event) is raising awareness of this and asking for your help. Watching the documentaries and seeing the devastation it brings to families is heartbreaking.

A £5 donation will buy a mosquito net and will save lives.

http://www.rednoseday.com/change_lives/what_your_cash_can_do

Things I'm accused of... (Part 4 - Parenting)

That my children will go to hell. Brilliant. And laughable. Perhaps you are concerned that I am blatantly playing dice with my children's souls and I would honestly have to say thank you. (Again this surprises people but I do appreciate your concern. It shows you care - and that you might, one day hopefully soon, make a good humanist.)

My children have not been baptised because I AM NOT GOING TO CHOOSE THEIR RELIGION FOR THEM. Face the facts. Children are born atheists. They learn about religion purely by chance of where they were born. There are too many religions all claiming that they are the TRUTH(tm) and as a parent, I am quite worried that I would choose the wrong version of events and condemn them to eternal torment / limbo / destruction / reincarnation / not getting picked for the rapture and other such entertaining ideas. (Delete as appropiate)

That I will raise my children as atheists. Ahem. Just because YOU may choose to indoctrinate / teach / brainwash / scare / encourage (again delete as...) YOUR religion, I take the path that my children should choose for themselves. My children have a natural curiousity about the world and ask questions. I give balanced answers but NEVER tell them that one opinion is better than the other. My children occasionally attend church services (Easter, Christmas, Remembrance Day...) and I don't have a problem with that. As a family, we have visited some of the most amazing temples in Asia and Africa and show the relevant respect for their customs.

Most important thing for me: my children will have an informed choice. They are already kind hearted, polite, sharing children with a concern about green issues. (And they haven't even heard of the term 'humanism').