Why I Raise My Children Without God
From: www.cnn.com
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When my son was around 3 years old, he used to ask me a
lot of questions about heaven. Where is it? How do people walk without a body?
How will I find you? You know the questions that kids ask.
For over a year, I lied to him and made up stories that
I didn’t believe about heaven. Like most parents, I love my child so much that I
didn’t want him to be scared. I wanted him to feel safe and loved and full of
hope. But the trade-off was that I would have to make stuff up, and I would have
to brainwash him into believing stories that didn’t make sense, stories that I
didn’t believe either.
One day he would know this, and he would not trust my
judgment. He would know that I built an elaborate tale—not unlike the one we
tell children about Santa—to explain the inconsistent and illogical legend of
God.
And so I thought it was only right to be honest with my
children. I am a non-believer, and for years I’ve been on the fringe in my
community. As a blogger, though, I’ve found that there are many other parents
out there like me. We are creating the next generation of kids, and there is a
wave of young agnostics, atheists, free thinkers and humanists rising up through
the ranks who will, hopefully, lower our nation’s religious fever.
Here are a few of the reasons why I am raising my
children without God.
God is a bad parent and role model.
If God is our father, then he is not a good parent. Good
parents don’t allow their children to inflict harm on others. Good people don’t
stand by and watch horrible acts committed against innocent men, women and
children. They don’t condone violence and abuse. “He has given us free will,”
you say? Our children have free will, but we still step in and guide them.
God is not logical.
How many times have you heard, “Why did God allow this
to happen?” And this: “It’s not for us to understand.” Translate: We don’t
understand, so we will not think about it or deal with the issue. Take for
example the senseless tragedy in Newtown. Rather than address the problem of
guns in America, we defer responsibility to God. He had a reason. He wanted more
angels. Only he knows why. We write poems saying that we told God to leave our
schools. Now he’s making us pay the price. If there is a good, all-knowing,
all-powerful God who loves his children, does it make sense that he would allow
murders, child abuse, wars, brutal beatings, torture and millions of heinous
acts to be committed throughout the history of mankind? Doesn’t this go against
everything Christ taught us in the New Testament?
The question we should be asking is this: “Why did we
allow this to happen?” How can we fix this? No imaginary person is going to give
us the answers or tell us why. Only we have the ability to be logical and to
problem solve, and we should not abdicate these responsibilities to “God” just
because a topic is tough or uncomfortable to address.
God is not fair.
If God is fair, then why does he answer the silly
prayers of some while allowing other, serious requests, to go unanswered? I have
known people who pray that they can find money to buy new furniture. (Answered.)
I have known people who pray to God to help them win a soccer match. (Answered.)
Why are the prayers of parents with dying children not answered?
If God is fair, then why are some babies born with heart
defects, autism, missing limbs or conjoined to another baby? Clearly, all men
are not created equally. Why is a good man beaten senseless on the street while
an evil man finds great wealth taking advantage of others? This is not fair. A
game maker who allows luck to rule mankind’s existence has not created a fair
game.
God does not protect the innocent.
He does not keep our children safe. As a society, we
stand up and speak for those who cannot. We protect our little ones as much as
possible. When a child is kidnapped, we work together to find the child. We do
not tolerate abuse and neglect. Why can’t God, with all his powers of
omnipotence, protect the innocent?
God is not present.
He is not here. Telling our children to love a person
they cannot see, smell, touch or hear does not make sense. It means that we
teach children to love an image, an image that lives only in their imaginations.
What we teach them, in effect, is to love an idea that we have created, one that
is based in our fears and our hopes.
God Does Not Teach Children to Be Good
A child should make moral choices for the right reasons.
Telling him that he must behave because God is watching means that his morality
will be externally focused rather than internally structured. It’s like telling
a child to behave or Santa won’t bring presents. When we take God out of the
picture, we place responsibility of doing the right thing onto the shoulders of
our children. No, they won’t go to heaven or rule their own planets when they
die, but they can sleep better at night. They will make their family proud. They
will feel better about who they are. They will be decent people.
God Teaches Narcissism
“God has a plan for you.” Telling kids there is a big
guy in the sky who has a special path for them makes children narcissistic; it
makes them think the world is at their disposal and that, no matter what
happens, it doesn’t really matter because God is in control. That gives kids a
sense of false security and creates selfishness. “No matter what I do, God loves
me and forgives me. He knows my purpose. I am special.” The irony is that, while
we tell this story to our kids, other children are abused and murdered, starved
and neglected. All part of God’s plan, right?
When we raise kids without God, we tell them the truth—we
are no more special than the next creature. We are just a very, very small part
of a big, big machine–whether that machine is nature or society–the influence we
have is minuscule. The realization of our insignificance gives us a true sense
of humbleness.
I understand why people need God. I understand why
people need heaven. It is terrifying to think that we are all alone in this
universe, that one day we—along with the children we love so much—will cease to
exist. The idea of God and an afterlife gives many of us structure, community
and hope.
I do not want religion to go away. I only want religion
to be kept at home or in church where it belongs. It’s a personal effect, like a
toothbrush or a pair of shoes. It’s not something to be used or worn by
strangers. I want my children to be free not to believe and to know that our
schools and our government will make decisions based on what is logical, just
and fair—not on what they believe an imaginary God wants.
Blogger comment:
God is a bad parent and role model.: God told us this life is not the heaven of peace but the second life and as good parent he asked us to be good children and he told us if we do not do that we will be ending by fighting one another.
God is not logical: God allow this to happen because as above this life is not heaven but a test to go to heaven few years of sufferign and accepting his logic and we will be in heaven for eternity. Again if there is no next life it will be illogical.
God is not fair: God answer prayers or not answer sometimes we can grasp his wisdom other times not. However if he offered us eternity for few years of suffering he is giving us a geat offer and he is more than fair.
God does not protect the innocent: God does his work through us we were supposed to do his bid in this earth but in most part we do the bid for the elites. God protect us and in large part when his anger comes in a nation it comes even on the innocent ones and even children that is us who always invite his anger or prevent us from his protection.
God is not present: God decide the way we will know him through prophet who talk to them directly or through visions or angels. We got some visions that we know from God at times. We are not he one who dictate to him how to contact us and when to do so. The common thing is we always fought his messangers all along.
God Does Not Teach Children to Be Good: No, they won’t go to heaven or rule their own planets when they die, but they can sleep better at night. They will make their family proud. They will feel better about who they are. They will be decent people. What is wrong to do it also for God in fact having God watch over us make us do the good thing even if we able to hide from people our errors because he sees us all time.
God Teaches Narcissism: Do not read in the Quran anything make you narcissitic, read it and tell me if I am wrong.
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