Confused

[Karo15]

I think it's very normal to be unsure about faith especially around your age. It sounds like your parents are giving you the space to figure things out for yourself, which is important. I hope your friends don't judge and let you decide whatever works best for you.

Thank you
I hope so too.

[Karo15]

It is normal to question. My partner is quite religious but she does not go to church any more than I do when here, but in SLovakia she will go with her mother. I am strictly a funerals, weddings and baptisms sort of person, I felt forced to go to church when a young boy and rebelled against it and have been an aetheist ever since. None of our three are religious, they are not baptised either. But if one of them wanted to take up religion then they are now of an age where we would encourage them to follow their thoughts on the matter.

Religion cannot be enforced, that is what we have to remember, better to find religion your own way.

Alex

You are right and i think it's great that you give your kids the freedom to find their own thoughts.
Everyone has different believes and we should never enforce religion nor should we look down upon people with different views.

[Kittykat]

I'm not overly religious myself but two of my kids go to our local Catholic church. I was raised Catholic and I have introduced it to my kids but told them it was their choice.

[sara_s]

Religion is a personal thing and I think that kids should decide for themselves if which, if any, to pick.

I had a friend online who was punished for not wanting to goto church which i think was wrong. A parent may try to guide them to thier path but ultimately if they think its not for them then they should help them fing thier own path.

As long as it doesn't negatively impact others, people should be free to be catholic, protestant, muslim, jew, hindu buddist, druid or even jedi. Similarly, they should be free to be atheist.

For me, if there is an afterlife, people would be judged on thier character and good they do in the world, not the kind of building they pray in.

[Anymouse]

I think there is a lot to be said for childhood religion, myself, simply to provide a spiritual base. I think that can be helpful to someone even if they later leave their earlier faith. Obviously, it is impossible to control what a person believes later in life, of course.

[Kittykat]

Religion is a personal thing and I think that kids should decide for themselves if which, if any, to pick.

I had a friend online who was punished for not wanting to goto church which i think was wrong. A parent may try to guide them to thier path but ultimately if they think its not for them then they should help them fing thier own path.

As long as it doesn't negatively impact others, people should be free to be catholic, protestant, muslim, jew, hindu buddist, druid or even jedi. Similarly, they should be free to be atheist.

For me, if there is an afterlife, people would be judged on thier character and good they do in the world, not the kind of building they pray in.

1000% agree

[Nancy]

Religion is a personal thing and I think that kids should decide for themselves if which, if any, to pick.

I had a friend online who was punished for not wanting to goto church which i think was wrong. A parent may try to guide them to thier path but ultimately if they think its not for them then they should help them fing thier own path.

As long as it doesn't negatively impact others, people should be free to be catholic, protestant, muslim, jew, hindu buddist, druid or even jedi. Similarly, they should be free to be atheist.

For me, if there is an afterlife, people would be judged on thier character and good they do in the world, not the kind of building they pray in.

Well said, Sara!

[Kim3]

I think there is a lot to be said for childhood religion, myself, simply to provide a spiritual base. I think that can be helpful to someone even if they later leave their earlier faith. Obviously, it is impossible to control what a person believes later in life, of course.

I concur. My husband and I decided we would allow our girls to determine what they would or would not believe and so we took a hands off approach. My husband is an agnostic and I am a disgruntled bad Catholic so we agreed we wouldn't have much to offer the girls on the religion front. That decision was a mistake. We learned that, like every thing else in life, we need to guide our girls in this discovery as well. My middle daughter is the one who showed us this, she had such a hunger to learn about God but my husband and I totally missed this because you don't see those things you aren't looking for. We've changed our attitude and are consciously offering our girls opportunities to explore their spirituality. As parents, we have an obligation to tend to the spiritual health of our children, it is just as important as their mental and physical health.

[Scarlette]

I honestly am not sure how I feel about parents indoctrinating their children.

My mom and stepdad are pretty okay with what we choose to believe...although none of us have come up with the plan to be Satanic cult people....think they would probably put their foot down at that point....hmmm....

My mother is the "bad Catholic" for good reason and my biological father is the so called "good Catholic" for no reason at all...

I'm Catholic, not because I chose to be but because I was baptized as a baby to be Catholic and my biological father would probably have a stroke if I opted out of Catholicism.....

I highly doubt I will die a Catholic but I think having a starting point is important, at least for me it is.

[Kittykat]

My kids were Christened as babies, but as they got older we attended a variety of different denominations/faiths because as my mother did, I want them to choose for themselves. My oldest is agnostic, which is perfectly fine with me.