Nov 27 2007
Sunday School for Atheists?
[From TIME]
On Sunday mornings, most parents who don’t believe in the Christian God, or any god at all, are probably making brunch or cheering at their kids’ soccer game, or running errands or, with luck, sleeping in. Without religion, there’s no need for church, right?
Maybe. But some nonbelievers are beginning to think they might need something for their children. “When you have kids,” says Julie Willey, a design engineer, “you start to notice that your co-workers or friends have church groups to help teach their kids values and to be able to lean on.” So every week, Willey, who was raised Buddhist and says she has never believed in God, and her husband pack their four kids into their blue minivan and head to the Humanist Community Center in Palo Alto, Calif., for atheist Sunday school.
An estimated 14% of Americans profess to have no religion, and among 18-to-25-year-olds, the proportion rises to 20%, according to the Institute for Humanist Studies. The lives of these young people would be much easier, adult nonbelievers say, if they learned at an early age how to respond to the God-fearing majority in the U.S. “It’s important for kids not to look weird,” says Peter Bishop, who leads the preteen class at the Humanist center in Palo Alto. Others say the weekly instruction supports their position that it’s O.K. to not believe in God and gives them a place to reinforce the morals and values they want their children to have.
Read about it here.
[From me]
Something about this story just breaks my heart. I just don’t get it. It is one thing for a mature adult to reject God but to teach children in a Sunday School…Breaks my heart….
What do you think?
10 responses so far
I find the story encouraging and refreshing.
Kevin:
These people are good candidates for what I call the “Millstone Award.” See Jesus’ comments in Matthew 18:6.
I don’t see how this is any different from what the church does. People who don’t believe in God/Jesus/etc aren’t required to make sure their kids are presented with the gospel. Maybe church folks need to start hanging out at the humanist center and see where the other side is coming from?
I’m much more comfortable with this news story than the number of 3-5 year olds being paraded though the baptistries in my church.
OLM,
You’ve got to be kidding! This is tragic. If an adult wants to reject God that’s one thing but to teach children to reject God–they don’t have a chance.
Judges 2:10
Kevin,
I’ve got to be seriousing. I have to be missing your point somehow. You haven’t shown this same level of outrage against LDS people raising their children to be LDS and you believe the LDS is a cult. Parents get to raise their children the way they want to.
Besides, I do happen to believe that the Holy Spirit/Ghost/etc is pretty persuasive to anyone. It sounds a little like you’re arguing that people should be able to brainwash children into Christianity early?
OLM,
I’m not a fan of LDS either.
Let me add…
I hate to see anyone spend eternity in hell. To teach children to reject God or follow the false God of LDS pains me.
Kevin,
I know just how you feel. I hate to see children indoctrinated with religious dogma of any kind - especially the kind of dogma that teaches them that people who believe differently then they do deserve to have a “heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” It is shameful.
A3,
Point taken.
Sorry A3 - your issue is with Jesus, not those who point to what He says.
-Alan
Alan,
I accept your apology