How have those of you with children addressed beliefs with your kids? Have you specified that there is no god or have you simply let their minds grow without influence? I do not have children but I feel that if I do I would not tell them what to believe at all. If they asked me questions about my beliefs I would respond truthfully, otherwise I would not tell them what to believe.
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I posted in here but my internet messed up. Anyway...I will raise my daughter in the sciences and teach her to look at facts. If she wants to pursue a religion one day, I will not stop her unless she's willing to risk her life, etc. No matter what she believes, I will always love her and support her.
Like i have said in other topics, i would raise my children to think for themselves. To learn that being just, fair and good to others is soemthing that will make them happy in life. And to also learn to never allow bad people to think they can get away with things and still be their friend. And like heather said, if they want to pursue any religious beliefs at some point, i will support them in that too.
I also support this way of raising children that Heather and Trevor are mentioning. The best thing is to allow them to choose and to give them a firm grip on what is truly good and bad. If you do this, you will never fear or question their common sense. It's hard to be a parent that does this well, but it can be done with enough maturity and being very true to yourself and your biggest fears and flaws, which are usually the ones you care least to admit you suffer from.
If you can manage to make it work and you raise children this way, you will be raising outstanding and above average people. It has been done before. We all know someone who doesn't act like everyone else. Someone who is trustworhy, and honest. Someone who truly believes in doing things with integrity in every aspect of their life. So I believe atheists in general should be very aware that their parenting skills are probably better than most religious people that are blinded by their faith. Much better human beings will be raised by people who believe in being good to others because they know it is the true way to happines, and not because they fear some good that will punish them for not being a certain way.
Often religious think that atheist parents will teach children : ''there's no god'' and fill their heads with Dawkins,Hitchens books. Certainly there is an influence,when they ask questions and you answer them, but that is far from brainwashing.It's all about critical thinking. Teaching them ''How'' to think insted ''What''
Let children grow to believe only the things they can question freely. Once you question something and logic tells you its good, then you can decide.
I ultimately feel that the child should "go with the waves" (that is my analogy). Try to equip them with rational thinking to a certain extent but let them go with their friends when they are invited to some religious gathering. I was voluntarily religious throughout high school primarily because I was invited to religious events by my friends but as I entered college I really had a double take on my beliefs and found everything to be backwards. I wouldn't have come to this realization though if my parents had objected me going to these gatherings and probably would have resented them.
My children will be raised religion free but also with the option to have it available to them as study material.
the best way to raise children is with unconditional love so they have a healthy selfsteem, teach them values according to their age, once they understand, critical thinking will tell them right from wrong and trues from lies...