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How Do You Explain Other Religious Beliefs to Your Kids?
Like with a book? A talk? Yeah, I'm assuming you throw your two cents (or pence) in.
I remember how devastated I was when my mom told me that she believed there was nothing after this life. I was 4 and really didn't want to hear that, in her opinion we all become worm fodder.
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We go to a UU church? Um, we discuss all major religions, both in their "church school" and at home. Right now we have available to them a book that discusses the main religions written in a kid's viewpoint and they have books available to them about the jewish and christian faith. We celebrated hanukkah, yule and christmas and discussed the regions and cultures the religions came from as well as the beliefs. Our church discussed them as well. This week our church discussed Kwanzaa.
We tell the kids they can believe whatever they want. I'm upfront with them that I don't know if I believe in a god/goddess but that I don't think it matters if you do or don't. Mick tells them he believes in God and Jesus (he's a christian mutt or nondenominational christian).
We mostly teach respect of all religions and allow them to believe what they want.
My children...are odd. They say they believe in a God or Jesus (they intertwine the two), but they have no desire or interest in learning more or going to church. I'm an atheist, so I obviously don't attend services of any sort or pray or whatever, but I do look up information for them and allow them to discuss what they believe and have offered numerous times to torture myself by sitting through a service if they wanted to attend one or fifty-two. I don't tell them it would be torture, obviously, but they just aren't interested. I'm sure as they get older they'll ask more and decide what they do/don't believe and that's what I want them to do. It's not my place to decide what's right for them in terms of that type of belief. I think a lot of people find comfort in it. If they do, great. If not, great.
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Christin's father drug her to church. But at home she would ask questions about how I felt. We would talk about our feelings and beliefs and she understands that people worship in diffrent ways and some just don't at all.
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We've always just talked to them, it's not really that difficult in our family to have to broach the subject of other religions though as we're a family so diverse we have several denominations of Christianity, paganism, aethiests (sisters husband is a hardcore aethiest) agnostic, ufologists (is that the name for the one where they believe we came from the stars?... those anyway!) Sikh, Hindu, Muslim (both types), Jehovah's Witness... I think the only major religion we don't have in our family somewhere is Judaism. So it's a case of having to explain to the kids why certain aunts, uncles, cousins dress or eat or act as they do, why they worship where the do and that's the best thing about being human is having free will to decide what we believe.
I enjoy the fact my kids have the exposure they do first hand to so many religions- it's made them exceptionally accepting and tollerant in the diverse environment of school and hopefully will continue to help them in later life find which path is best for them.
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My kids mostly learn about other major religions from me and Dave. It's pretty much the same way we handle discussions about sex. We answer questions with age-appropriate answers, but we don't hide anything from them. They obviously understand more about Judaism and Christianity than any other faith and they know why we believe the way we do.
Next year, when I've got them back home again, we'll be studying on major world religions and how that affects people's worldview.
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I just try to answer questions Thomas has that are theological with "Some people believe...other people believe..." answers. So, when he started asking about what happened after you die, I just told him what I believe, and then some of the other things that people believe. I didn't get into it in terms of "Hindus believe this, atheists believe this" etc., because he wasn't really interested in the religious basis for people's beliefs, but he understands that different people believe different things.
We handle it much like Christine and Dave, and teach the boys from our point of view, and of course they learn about our faith in church as well. I do have several child appropriate books on world religions that I will probably start sharing with Isaac soon. There are good and bad things about us living in such a Christian centered area--there aren't many other religions around here to be exposed to. I honestly don't know where the closest synagogue is, Knoxville, maybe? I think there is a UU church somewhere fairly close by.
Anyway, I'm obviously going to teach my children from a Christian POV, but if they decide that they want to learn more about other faiths, I am open to it!
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Christi, that's one of the reasons that I'm involved in an inclusive homeschool group, rather than a strictly Christian one. I think it's really important for them to learn how to share their faith in an appropriate and non-offensive way with people of all walks. It's brought up a lot of good discussions!
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I answer my kids questions but don't teach them a sense of reverence about any belief system. It pretty much comes down to this is what other people believe and Mommy disagrees. I don't feel the need to offer up the concept that they can chose their own way when I think the other ways are wrong. As long as they treat other people with respect, that is fine with me.
For historical and cultural understanding, I do think it is important that they do understand other belief systems which is one of the biggest reasons we discuss it.
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I answer their questions in a way appropriate for their age. If they ask we discuss what we believe . I make sure to explain that not everyone has the same beliefs and even if you don't believe the same thing as someone else it is important to respect their beliefs.
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My children are raised to accept religion and to learn about about them. They go to a Christian daycare, but we are not officially Christian. Tanner has a bit of a strong opinion about being an atheist and some of the things he tells me blow me away. I have to accept his opinion as we have raised him that way, just like he has to accept other people's faiths and belief systems.
so my kids are raised with open and honest answers that they understand at their age.
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Single, 30-something mum of T(15yrs), E (10yrs) and G(8yrs)
We openly discuss other faiths if the topics are brought up. We are obviously raising our kids in the Christian faith, and my prayer is that the commitments that they made to Jesus will guide them for a lifetime.
Frankly, specific questions about other religions haven't really come up. We have discussed other religions in the context of what they are learning in school, but none of my kids is adventurous enough (I guess) to broach what a Buddhist (as an example only) specificaly believes
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How Do You Explain Other Religious Beliefs to Your Kids?
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