I was raised to be open minded and I chose to be an atheist.

I lived in China for 10 years, where my two daughters were born, which is an atheist country, I recently moved back to the UK.

The town I live in is very small, my daughter goes to a Church of England school with less than 60 students.

I would like to point out, the school is very good educationally, they care for the students, but there is a Christian influence, as should be expected from a Church of England school. They were clear, I picked the school, nothing was forced on me.

But the school is very open minded, they say to the students, if you don't want to pray, you don't need to, just be polite and stay quite (which I think is 100% the correct way and very respectful of atheists/non-Christians)

BUT

My daughter (6 years old) came home the other day and started singing church hymns, and a few days later, started reciting the lord’s prayer.

I felt slightly offended by this as I have a dislike for religion, my personal belief is that religion was invented to control the masses. But that is only my belief.

I spoke, maybe too harshly to my daughter.

I said that “Daddy doesn’t believe in these things, if you want to pray you can, but I choose not to”

I went to her school for the nativity play (I don’t believe in it, but I think you need to show respect and support the school you picked) and my daughter didn’t bow her head during the prayer.

Did I force my ideas on her, if I did, is that wrong?

I was not forceful, I just said I dislike it.

But my daughter is very respectful of me and does as I say.

I believe in personal choice, have I stolen this from her? Or is it OK to discourage something I truly think is wrong?