5 Comments:

1. Anonymous on November 27, 2008 7:06 PM

   I like the ideas of how to get your little ones involved in the religion. However, your comment on not raising your child with a religion doesn't sit well with me. I can see how religion can definitely help with raising your child - it sets up rules and morals to follow, for example - so I don't disagree that raising a child with religion is good. It's the part of claiming it's a disservice to raise your child without religion that I’m having trouble with.
   
   If you can't tell, I grew up without religion. My mom is spiritual from a Catholic background (in other words, she believes in God but doesn't believe in Church), while my dad is atheist. Like what you did with your children, my parents decided not to put their views on my sister and me.
   
   All my life, when people ask me what my religion was, I'd tell them I didn't have one. Sometimes I would have to explain, but I never saw myself disadvantaged to the rest of the world - even when people tried to make me feel left out for not believing in their god.
   
   My parents made sure I still had morals - taught me to be kind to others, not to be selfish, to always question, to always learn, to always listen, to love my family, to always be there for my friends, to help when I can, to not be afraid of work, to recognize when I'm being taken advantage of, and to find my own voice. Because of them and their love, I'm an intelligent, self-confident woman.
   
   But, to clarify, I did not grow up without knowing about religion. My grandparents (mom's parents) are still Catholic - well, they don't go to church any more, but they still believe in God, the Bible, and all it teaches - so I learned much of the Catholic/Christian through them. And the media. And any friend/schoolmate who just HAD to save my soul. Religion wasn't a taboo subject in my home - if I had a question, my parents would answer it to the best of their ability and confess if they didn't know the answer. My father never hid his atheist views, but he kept it age-appropriate, so I had the chance to discover if I believed him or Mom or my grandparents or someone else. He did share with me that he believes that Man created God, not the other way around, but that happened in my later years of high school, when I was mature enough to understand this point of view with no buffers.
   
   When I entered high school, I got interested in other religions and started researching in books and talking with people about it (a task that I’m still working at). I wasn't looking for a God, but for the view points of other people. I feel almost like I have privileged knowledge because I'm able to see religion from the point of views of the believers, the non-believers, and from my own. I once had a chat with a woman was trying to get me to join her church group. She told me that she researched all of the other religions she could think of, like I did/do, but she always found a fault with them and in the end, her faith in her religion wasn't shaken. At first, I thought that was pretty awesome, but after she left, I realized that she found fault in all of those other religions because she still believed whole-heartedly in her own religion. It was like she was looking only for things colored purple and not enjoying the different hues of everything else, but finding them ugly in one fashion or another.
   
   I’m not saying that raising your children with religion will blind them to other religions - there are people who convert or actually respect other religions. I just wanted to share my experiences so you can see that raising a child “religion free” isn’t a bad thing. I’ve never once wished my parents had raised me differently (okay, so I wished I could get out of being grounded and doing chores when I was younger, but that’s a wish of every kid).
   
   I’m sure you’ve raised and are raising wonderful children and whether they were brought up religion free or with Paganism, they’ll turn out to be great adults. You sound like a loving parent and that’s the most important to raising good people, right? :)

    
2. Patrick McCleary on November 27, 2008 7:37 PM

   First off thanks for the great comment.
   
   Looking back at my article, I realized that I had a poor choice of words when I talked about giving children religion. What I had meant to say is that children need to be exposed to religion, as you were, growing up.
   
   I was speaking about those Pagan parents I have met that shelter their children from religion all together. That is what I was disagreeing with.
   
   Hope to see you around.

    
3. Anonymous on November 29, 2008 1:19 AM

   (Same chick as before. I should create a profile, huh?)
   
   You know, I never understood how someone could be sheltered from religion (espically around this time of the year) to such a degree that it'd turn into a disavantage... But I guess it can happen if you keep a close enough eye on what your kids are exposed to.
   
   But, yeah, I agree with you that children shouldn't be sheltered like that. I think that everyone should learn at least the basics of all regilions if for no other reason than to understand their fellow humans better. (Of course, I'm one of those people who love to learn about everything, so I might be a little bias on this. ^_^ )

    
4. Anonymous on December 18, 2008 1:06 PM

   I am raising my 4 and 6 yr olds in the pagan tradition. You are correct that it takes great thought to break down the very advanced concepts in our religion into child sized chunks and then build on it. I have strong faith but do not practice the rituals, but I am discovering that my children need the ritual to help make it all seem real to them. I have found your children's prayers to be wonderful! thanks. I will include a short story I wrote for the winter solstice to help explain some of the things we do.
   
   A Winter Solstice Tale
   By Telaryn May, 2006
   
   The Summer King had been shining his light on the Earth for a very long time. He had helped the grain to grow and warmed Mother Earth so all the people could laugh and play and swim, and enjoy his Light. He loved all the people so much that he shone as much as he could and the days were very long and warm all Summer.
   
   But the Sun was growing tired and old after shining on Earth all year, and the days grew shorter and colder. Finally the old Sun King couldn’t rise any more. He was too old. So he asked the Goddess Night to help him be young again.
   
   So on the night of the Winter Solstice, all the people gathered to say goodbye to the old King. They lit the Yule fire to keep watch for the King’s return. They hoped that the Goddess Night could make him young again.
   
   Slowly the King of the Summer drifted to sleep in the arms of Goddess Night.
   
   He slept and slept. And as he slept, he felt young again, strong again, and finally was ready to wake up and be King again. So he told the Goddess Night that he was ready to go back to Mother Earth.
   
   He slowly rose from the arms of Goddess Night, and as he did, on earth, the sky began to turn from black to blue to red, and soon you could see the first rays of the newborn Sun rising over Mother Earth.
   
   All the people gathered outside to watch the birth of the new King who will bring light to the earth. As the new born Sun rose the sky became brighter and brighter until it was filled with light. The people laughed and sang because now they knew that the longest night of the year was over, and soon Spring and Summer would come again. Light had come again into the world, and the Darkness of Night was at an end. And all the people shouted, “Glory to the newborn King!”.
   
   All the creatures of the earth came from near and far to celebrate the birth of the baby sun.
   
   On the fourth day, they all gathered together to give the baby King their presents. They placed them under the trees so they wouldn’t get wet from the dew. Even the elves came; they had made little toys for the baby sun.
   
   And every year after that on the fourth day after the Winter Solstice, people gather together and give gifts to celebrate the birth of the newborn Sun.

    
5. Patrick McCleary on December 18, 2008 4:03 PM

   That was a wonderful story thanks for sharing. Thanks for the comment as well.
   
   Blessed Be!

    

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