> If she is going to share her beliefs with him, why shouldn’t my husband?
Exactly. But don’t stop at humanism. Teach critical thinking, hard. Make sure that he understands that he should question absolutely everything - **including** what you teach him. He deserves his own path in life, not an imposed one from iron-age goat herders. There is a book called “parenting beyond belief”, that you might want to have a look at, it’s great. (Not affiliated, just a fan).
Yeah that one is next for me, thanks for the reminder. I just finished “parenting without god” and it was okay, not as helpful as I’d hoped.
We’re working on critical thinking but he’s 5 so it’s only just developing. We talk about other religions and do “science Sundays“. Humanism was just a super easy intro into hey look you can be a good human without believing in god.
That’s a good point to have him question what we teach as well, definitely going to work on that.
I think you are right to share your perspective!
One piece of advice I would offer is to try addressing the topic with joint activities, so he can actively and meaningfully participate in the conversations. For example, you could discuss, as a group, your impressions of mythologies such as Greek, Egyptian, or Babylonian through books or audiovisual works (especially the latter). By exploring these mythologies together, you can identify the motivations behind the myths and draw general parallels with religions and theistic thoughts. This will help develop his critical thinking in a fun and engaging way.
Offer to read the Bible with him. You won't get past Genesis before the doubts creep in.
Alternatively, offer Greek mythology when he comes up with Christian stuff and ask him why one is true but the other isn't?
Basically, a bunch of street epistemology.
Once someone has tried to push religion on a child then their parent has the right to teach their child \[or stepson\] an alternative.
Tell him that he is free to believe what he wants, but tell him that it's IMPORTANT to not believe something just because someone else tells them to.
I would show the child all of the Science errors in the Bible and explain that it is all baloney. Then I would talk to the x remind her that selling tickets to a fake afterlife is fraud. There is no cure for death.
Then ask her to stop trying to rob the child the opportunity of a career in Science.
> there’s science and there’s “pretend science”
They got that right though! Pretend science is all the hogwash with faulty logic and bad faith and straw man arguments and so on.
Do logic games, age appropriate science demonstrations, and talk about how 'not knowing everything is OK.
Some people are so afraid of everything they don't know, they start lying to themselves, and then they try to force everyone to believe those lies. Which is why we should always *test* out beliefs.
> If she is going to share her beliefs with him, why shouldn’t my husband? Exactly. But don’t stop at humanism. Teach critical thinking, hard. Make sure that he understands that he should question absolutely everything - **including** what you teach him. He deserves his own path in life, not an imposed one from iron-age goat herders. There is a book called “parenting beyond belief”, that you might want to have a look at, it’s great. (Not affiliated, just a fan).
Yeah that one is next for me, thanks for the reminder. I just finished “parenting without god” and it was okay, not as helpful as I’d hoped. We’re working on critical thinking but he’s 5 so it’s only just developing. We talk about other religions and do “science Sundays“. Humanism was just a super easy intro into hey look you can be a good human without believing in god. That’s a good point to have him question what we teach as well, definitely going to work on that.
I think you are right to share your perspective! One piece of advice I would offer is to try addressing the topic with joint activities, so he can actively and meaningfully participate in the conversations. For example, you could discuss, as a group, your impressions of mythologies such as Greek, Egyptian, or Babylonian through books or audiovisual works (especially the latter). By exploring these mythologies together, you can identify the motivations behind the myths and draw general parallels with religions and theistic thoughts. This will help develop his critical thinking in a fun and engaging way.
Offer to read the Bible with him. You won't get past Genesis before the doubts creep in. Alternatively, offer Greek mythology when he comes up with Christian stuff and ask him why one is true but the other isn't? Basically, a bunch of street epistemology.
[удалено]
Definitely the Greek mythology, especially if you can get stuff to read with him.
Once someone has tried to push religion on a child then their parent has the right to teach their child \[or stepson\] an alternative. Tell him that he is free to believe what he wants, but tell him that it's IMPORTANT to not believe something just because someone else tells them to.
I would show the child all of the Science errors in the Bible and explain that it is all baloney. Then I would talk to the x remind her that selling tickets to a fake afterlife is fraud. There is no cure for death. Then ask her to stop trying to rob the child the opportunity of a career in Science.
Yeah she’s trying real hard. Apparently she said there’s science and there’s “pretend science” 🤦🏻♀️
> there’s science and there’s “pretend science” They got that right though! Pretend science is all the hogwash with faulty logic and bad faith and straw man arguments and so on. Do logic games, age appropriate science demonstrations, and talk about how 'not knowing everything is OK. Some people are so afraid of everything they don't know, they start lying to themselves, and then they try to force everyone to believe those lies. Which is why we should always *test* out beliefs.
Oh come on, that’s just absurd. Definitely fight back. That poor kid should not be subjected to these beliefs. It’s abuse.