Non-religious parent whose kid wants to go to church
Non-religious parents want to support their child's autonomy and decision-making while feeling uncomfortable with organized religion. The main difficulty is finding a safe environment where a child can learn about beliefs without being exposed to hate speech.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Allowing the child to attend church with a grandparent to see if they lose interestDid this help you?
- 2Explaining different religions and the concept of God in a matter-of-fact wayDid this help you?
- 3Supplementing church visits with education about other belief systems and world religionsDid this help you?
- 4Finding alternative inclusive and progressive spaces like a Unitarian Universalist churchDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I guess I’m wondering what advice you’d offer, especially if you’re agnostic. I want her to learn about all religions and beliefs eventually I just don’t want her to attend a place that spews hate using the bible.. and that can be kind of hard in these area”source ↗
“We're not religious but if my kid wanted to go to church I'd let her because I want her to know that I support her being able to make her own decisions and I love her no matter what.”source ↗
Where this came up
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