Did/would you send your kids to church and/or Sunday school?

[MotF Bane]

No way. Teach your children your values, morals, and ethics at home.

 

[mindmaniac]

I went to a Catholic school from elementary through high school so no Sunday school for me. Now I go to Lutheran church with my fiance. I guess if we had kids I would put them in Sunday school, mostly so the don't interupt the service for everyone else when they are little.

 

[KeithTalent]

No, that is when I would actually have time to spend with them, so I would be spending time with them, not sending them off to a class of any sort.

KT

 

[JM Aggie08]

It took longer than expected for someone to get all butthurt in this thread.

AT is moving up in the world.

 

[FeuerFrei]

I'm young, and don't have any kids, but was raised in a Christian household. We went to Church every Sunday and I had to go to Sunday school every week up until I was in 8th grade. I am not a religious person, but still maintain what I believe are good values.

Do you think that it would be important to send kids to church or Sunday school so that they have a stronger opportunity to learn these values? Or do you think values are more taught by the parents and maybe a learning institution?

Yes it's valuable. You want your kids to know right from wrong and the church can assist you by reinforcing those values. Trouble is, values/morals will wither when severed from their root in the Bible. People who cut themselves off from the Bible, inevitably rot inside. People who don't love the Lord will have no motivation to do what's right or power to overcome temptation. Just saying.

 

[KeithTalent]

Yes it's valuable. You want your kids to know right from wrong and the church can assist you by reinforcing those values. Trouble is, values/morals will wither when severed from their root in the Bible. People who cut themselves off from the Bible, inevitably rot inside. People who don't love the Lord will have no motivation to do what's right or power to overcome temptation. Just saying.

Lol, good one.

KT

 

[MrChad]

My wife and I are struggling with this issue. We are not religious, but I won't say we are atheist either. My wife's family is Baptist and heavily involved in the church. My mom was raised Catholic but has pretty much abandoned church in the past 10-15 years.

Both of us went to Sunday school and church growing up, and I think that there's value in exposing children to religion and allowing them to form their own opinions about it. However, we feel a bit hypocritical attending church or sending our kids if we don't fully believe in it ourselves.

We are still deciding what to do.

 

[nageov3t]

it's certainly an important discussion I'd have to have with my partner.

I was really involved with my church growing up and I feel like it helped me become a better person.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Yes it's valuable. You want your kids to know right from wrong and the church can assist you by reinforcing those values. Trouble is, values/morals will wither when severed from their root in the Bible. People who cut themselves off from the Bible, inevitably rot inside. People who don't love the Lord will have no motivation to do what's right or power to overcome temptation. Just saying.

That's horse shit. Just saying.

 

[child of wonder]

Yes it's valuable. You want your kids to know right from wrong and the church can assist you by reinforcing those values. Trouble is, values/morals will wither when severed from their root in the Bible. People who cut themselves off from the Bible, inevitably rot inside. People who don't love the Lord will have no motivation to do what's right or power to overcome temptation. Just saying.

Actually, someone who does the right thing without expecting any rewards or fear of punishment is morally superior to someone who does.

You would know this if you believed in the FSM.

Heathen.

 

[Vette73]

My wife and I are struggling with this issue. We are not religious, but I won't say we are atheist either. My wife's family is Baptist and heavily involved in the church. My mom was raised Catholic but has pretty much abandoned church in the past 10-15 years.

Both of us went to Sunday school and church growing up, and I think that there's value in exposing children to religion and allowing them to form their own opinions about it. However, we feel a bit hypocritical attending church or sending our kids if we don't fully believe in it ourselves.

We are still deciding what to do.

How about letting them go to MANY temples/churchs/etc...

My wife is buddhist but does not go to temple much. But they also, at the ones I have been to, don't force their beliefs like this is the way and only way and all others go to hell. So I would not have a problem with my son going to one as long as I went a couple times to make sure it ok.

I would not mind him,my son, going to many places of religion. As long as its not really forced and they don;t play the "all other are bs..."

 

[bobdole369]

Do you want to risk having your kids molested?

/thread

My mom was too lazy to take me to molest-atholic church on Sunday or Catechism. She couldn't be bothered, so she sent us on the Baptist church bus. The missionary who rounded all the kids up and drove the bus was busted molesting a good number of them, my family excluded. So its not just the Catholics doing it.

As an aside, my mom and family were mortified when they learned I had been "saved" by the Baptists, this was before my Confirmation as a Catholic, so apparently there was some sort of religious thievery going on with my soul.

My wife is buddhist but does not go to temple much.

Thats pretty much me right there. Buddhism doesn't really have a form, a text, clear leaders, paths, or molesting priests.

 

[MrChad]

How about letting them go to MANY temples/churchs/etc...

My wife is buddhist but does not go to temple much. But they also, at the ones I have been to, don't force their beliefs like this is the way and only way and all others go to hell. So I would not have a problem with my son going to one as long as I went a couple times to make sure it ok.

I would not mind him,my son, going to many places of religion. As long as its not really forced and they don;t play the "all other are bs..."

We've definitely considered this option as well.

 

[Jzero]

How about letting them go to MANY temples/churchs/etc...

My wife is buddhist but does not go to temple much. But they also, at the ones I have been to, don't force their beliefs like this is the way and only way and all others go to hell. So I would not have a problem with my son going to one as long as I went a couple times to make sure it ok.

I would not mind him,my son, going to many places of religion. As long as its not really forced and they don;t play the "all other are bs..."

I like this...I have been to so many different places of worship. Many play the "all others are bs" game. I think this is so common in western religion because for some reason westerners have trouble with the ambiguity posed by having multiple paths to enlightenment. As such, I've come to take the stance that those that need to feel that can go with it, and those of us that can accept the amiguity recognize that the "only one true path" is only there to appease those that can't handle not having it.

But it's really wild to see the different ways people worship and pray. The first time I was exposed to Theravada Buddhism, a nun explained to me about the eightfold path and I could not help but notice that if you followed the eightfold path in the name of Jesus you'd be doing a pretty solid job as a Christian.

I don't know much about Mahayana/Vajrayana but I really liked the notion that Theravada Buddhism is not really a religion and the Buddha is not really a God. As such, the practice of their meditation and mindfulness is compatible with other faiths and can help adherents draw closer to whatever it is they would consider to be enlightenment.

Sat nam, indeed!

 

[Kadarin]

Yes it's valuable. You want your kids to know right from wrong and the church can assist you by reinforcing those values. Trouble is, values/morals will wither when severed from their root in the Bible. People who cut themselves off from the Bible, inevitably rot inside. People who don't love the Lord will have no motivation to do what's right or power to overcome temptation. Just saying.

Wow, LOL! Just LOL...

More LOL...

Wait, are you being serious? If so, LOL at you and not just at what you're saying.

 

[AMDZen]

• If you are lazy and/or stupid and cannot teach your kids values in your own house then it is probably good to have the church do it for you.
  
• If you are religious and .... obviously this is obvious

 

[HydroSqueegee]

I know that. That is what i was trying to say. You take them when they are young and impressionable and make them believe in God etc. Hell they believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy at that age as well because we tell them they are real. Most likely if you dont get them early the more likely they wont choose religion later in life on their own. Hence the brainwashing/indoctrination comments people make about children and church.

But i was replying to Hydro's comment about not remembering things from 4 or 5 other then you finger painted etc. That may be true but the church/religion will still leave its impression on the child wether they realize it or not. Hence the brainwashing comments.

exactly my point. young and impressionable. they certinly do believe in the tooth fairy and santa. They grow up and out of it. Just like whatever 'Brainwashing' you may percieve the church does.

Now let me throw this out there. I was against sending my kids to church and daycare at a church. I gave in and gave it a try because my only hangup with the whole thing was "omg, brainwashing! organized religion is the evil!" I had no basis for my fears. It was just my personal dislike of the church. They're turning out to be great little kids.

And yes, some churches are a little over the top. Their will always be people more deep into the scriptures and teachings than any seemingly sane person should be. Its all about moderation. Nothing in this world is black and white, no matter how much people may think. And i may be anti-religion, but my personal experiences with it in life has led me to the conclusion that its ok to dabble and expose your kids to things outside the home. When the day comes they dont want to go, they can stay home on sundays, for now they enjoy it. Once they hit kindergarten its off to public schools.

 

[HydroSqueegee]

That's horse shit. Just saying.

obvious troll is obvious. dot feed him

 

[ichy]

I had a mostly non-religious upbringing although I went to Sunday school for a couple of years as a kid. It didn't do me any harm and I kind of liked all the violent Old Testament stories (probably not the lesson I was supposed to learn ) but I wouldn't say it did me any good either. My girlfriend says that back when she went to church in high school she hooked up with a lot of guys in youth group, so that kind of makes me regret not having gone

I neither have nor want kids, but if I did have them I would not send them to church, and I wouldn't have kids with a woman who expected me to. If they wanted to go on their own initiative then I certainly wouldn't stop them as long as they weren't being suckered in by some wacko fundamentalist or pentecostal group. If I had who became a Muslim I'd disown them though.

 

[AreaCode707]

I had a mostly non-religious upbringing although I went to Sunday school for a couple of years as a kid. It didn't do me any harm and I kind of liked all the violent Old Testament stories (probably not the lesson I was supposed to learn ) but I wouldn't say it did me any good either. My girlfriend says that back when she went to church in high school she hooked up with a lot of guys in youth group, so that kind of makes me regret not having gone

I neither have nor want kids, but if I did have them I would not send them to church, and I wouldn't have kids with a woman who expected me to. If they wanted to go on their own initiative then I certainly wouldn't stop them as long as they weren't being suckered in by some wacko fundamentalist or pentecostal group. If I had who became a Muslim I'd disown them though.

As far as the bolded goes, I don't view it as a bad thing for people in general to have at least a passing familiarity with the Bible. In college as part of my English major there were lots of students who got dinged on their understanding of allusions in the Western literature we were studying or who missed some of what was going on in the books because they didn't understand the Biblical references the writers were using in their storytelling.

For example, one class got the concept of "Good Samaritan" in principle but the author we were studying had made a few details allusions to the story itself and most of the class didn't actually know the origin of the term and the author's meaning was lost on them. I found it interesting. I'd be equally lost in studies of Eastern literature but I also didn't grow up in an Eastern culture whereas these students were almost universally Western in origin and lacking a knowledge of stories that have been part of Western lore for centuries.

 

[soulcougher73]

After reading through this whole post it seems one of if not the only positive thing people mention was the social aspect of church for the children even when the parents were/are not religions themselves. Maybe we need more youth groups for kids to get together and volunteer and trips etc. away from churches. I know there are cub scouts and girl scouts but that is seperating sexes. Just an overall kids youth group for both sexes.

No need to bring religion into the social aspect so many see as a positive.

Just an observation. I dont have kids and am not having any. But if i did there would be no religious exposure from my end.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

My parents took me to Sunday School for a while. Guess it didn't stick