John Adams Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Today in 1925, the Scopes Monkey trial concluded. If you don't know what that is, I don't care. The timing of this very important 83rd anniversary of the completion of the Scopes trial coincides with a conversation with my 6 year old daughter Nabby on Saturday. We were driving by a statue at 17th and Vine in Philadelphia. Nabby: "Dad, what is that?" Me: "That shows a story of how god made man. He sculpted the body from the earth and shaped it some. Then god breathed life into it. In the last part of the statue, man emerges from the earth. Some people say that's how god created humans." Nabby (indignant): "I don't believe that." Queue hysterical laughter from my wife and I as we revel in our good parenting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Queue hysterical laughter from my wife and I as we revel in our good parenting. I'm not a religious person nor am i parent, so don't misinterpret what I'm about to say but.... How is it good parenting if you don't at least expose the child to religion? I'm sure you're worried stiff about the days ahead when she's exposed to drugs, alcohol, and sex and are trying to prepare so in 10 years she doesn't come home one day drunk, high, and pregnant. How about the day she comes home and announces to the world she's found this really cool bunch of people named Scientologists... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Fischer Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I'm not a religious person nor am i parent, so don't misinterpret what I'm about to say but.... How is it good parenting if you don't at least expose the child to religion? I'm sure you're worried stiff about the days ahead when she's exposed to drugs, alcohol, and sex and are trying to prepare so in 10 years she doesn't come home one day drunk, high, and pregnant. How about the day she comes home and announces to the world she's found this really cool bunch of people named Scientologists... Are you suggesting that exposure to religion will keep her off drugs, alcohol, she won't get pregnant or become a Scientologist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Fischer Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Today in 1925, the Scopes Monkey trial concluded. If you don't know what that is, I don't care. The timing of this very important 83rd anniversary of the completion of the Scopes trial coincides with a conversation with my 6 year old daughter Nabby on Saturday. We were driving by a statue at 17th and Vine in Philadelphia. Nabby: "Dad, what is that?" Me: "That shows a story of how god made man. He sculpted the body from the earth and shaped it some. Then god breathed life into it. In the last part of the statue, man emerges from the earth. Some people say that's how god created humans." Nabby (indignant): "I don't believe that." Queue hysterical laughter from my wife and I as we revel in our good parenting. Inherit the Wind is a great play/movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Are you suggesting that exposure to religion will keep her off drugs, alcohol, she won't get pregnant or become a Scientologist? No. I'm suggesting that parents can't shelter their kids forever. I was using sex/drugs/alcohol as an example of things that most parents talk their kids about. At some point everyone will be exposed to sex, drugs, alcohol, and religion. You might not want to talk to your kids about any of those topics. If they don't learn about them from their parent, they'll just learn about them from somebody else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I'm not a religious person nor am i parent, so don't misinterpret what I'm about to say but.... How is it good parenting if you don't at least expose the child to religion? I'm sure you're worried stiff about the days ahead when she's exposed to drugs, alcohol, and sex and are trying to prepare so in 10 years she doesn't come home one day drunk, high, and pregnant. How about the day she comes home and announces to the world she's found this really cool bunch of people named Scientologists... Thank God that never happens to kids steeped in religious education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Adams Posted July 21, 2008 Author Share Posted July 21, 2008 I'm not a religious person nor am i parent, so don't misinterpret what I'm about to say but.... How is it good parenting if you don't at least expose the child to religion? I'm sure you're worried stiff about the days ahead when she's exposed to drugs, alcohol, and sex and are trying to prepare so in 10 years she doesn't come home one day drunk, high, and pregnant. How about the day she comes home and announces to the world she's found this really cool bunch of people named Scientologists... Did you read the part where I explained that particular creation story to her? That's some religious exposure, is it not? She'll get and does get plenty of religious exposure. You can no more shield children from religion than you can shield them from body odor. Further, in no way would I expect it wise for anyone to go through life without some knowledge about religion. That would be like going through life without an appreciation of history. She'll learn religion in school. She'll read about it in books. It's part of the world. My joy is was in her rational skepticism of the story, ie, recognizing it for fantasy. Between coming home and finding her smoking pot with some classmates vs. coming home and finding her in an evangelical Bible study group, I'll take the former 7 out of 7 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 No. I'm suggesting that parents can't shelter their kids forever. I was using sex/drugs/alcohol as an example of things that most parents talk their kids about. At some point everyone will be exposed to sex, drugs, alcohol, and religion. You might not want to talk to your kids about any of those topics. If they don't learn about them from their parent, they'll just learn about them from somebody else Now THAT would be bad parenting. Religion and faith are GREAT values to give our children. But not at the expense of assuming that will be enough to handle the tough topics that parents often wish to avoid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Out of the mouths of babes. To think that some higher entity waved some magic wand around and created all around us is a pretty damn silly concept that even a six year old can see that. Flame away Godnicks. I'm ready for ya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Today in 1925, the Scopes Monkey trial concluded. If you don't know what that is, I don't care. The timing of this very important 83rd anniversary of the completion of the Scopes trial coincides with a conversation with my 6 year old daughter Nabby on Saturday. We were driving by a statue at 17th and Vine in Philadelphia. Nabby: "Dad, what is that?" Me: "That shows a story of how god made man. He sculpted the body from the earth and shaped it some. Then god breathed life into it. In the last part of the statue, man emerges from the earth. Some people say that's how god created humans." Nabby (indignant): "I don't believe that." Queue hysterical laughter from my wife and I as we revel in our good parenting. I like rational skepticism. Now, teach her to view the opposing viewpoints in either side of the argument, analyze the rational arguments on both sides, noting open-ended issues (ie. big bang creationism and missing links in evolution) and decide for herself which viewpoint to support (or at least which to give greater merit to). At this point, given she is 6, I'd say (no LSI reference intended). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Adams Posted July 21, 2008 Author Share Posted July 21, 2008 Out of the mouths of babes. To think that some higher entity waved some magic wand around and created all around us is a pretty damn silly concept that even a six year old can see that. Flame away Godnicks. I'm ready for ya. Ding. My daughter has been on a streak of telling us all the things she knows to be untrue (princess, superheroes, Santa, etc.). This was the pinnacle of that for me--and also for my wife who would probably call herself a Christian. We then told her loaves and fishes, Moses and plagues, and several other stories--she wasn't buying any of them. Later that night, my wife and I were imagining what some of our relatives would have said to her. "No dear, people made up the story of Cinderella, Star Wars, etc...Those are just stories. But in reality, once upon a time Noah built a big boat for every animal in the world...etc." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finknottle Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Me: "That shows a story of how god made man. He sculpted the body from the earth and shaped it some. Then god breathed life into it. In the last part of the statue, man emerges from the earth. Some people say that's how god created humans." I think you mean statute. It sounds like the uplifting story of how Senator Obama makes a bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Ding. My daughter has been on a streak of telling us all the things she knows to be untrue (princess, superheroes, Santa, etc.). This was the pinnacle of that for me--and also for my wife who would probably call herself a Christian. We then told her loaves and fishes, Moses and plagues, and several other stories--she wasn't buying any of them. Later that night, my wife and I were imagining what some of our relatives would have said to her. "No dear, people made up the story of Cinderella, Star Wars, etc...Those are just stories. But in reality, once upon a time Noah built a big boat for all the animals and every animal in the world...etc." I have some very good friends who are very religious (Orange county is God country) and they can't understand why we don't believe. We've had some very heated discussions regarding religion. I always use the "if there's a god, why is there so much shiit happening in the world." Their response is the canned and well used "he's just testing our faith in him." Nice way of testing us guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Adams Posted July 21, 2008 Author Share Posted July 21, 2008 I think you mean statute. Really? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckincincy Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Today in 1925, the Scopes Monkey trial concluded. If you don't know what that is, I don't care. The timing of this very important 83rd anniversary of the completion of the Scopes trial coincides with a conversation with my 6 year old daughter Nabby on Saturday. We were driving by a statue at 17th and Vine in Philadelphia. Nabby: "Dad, what is that?" Me: "That shows a story of how god made man. He sculpted the body from the earth and shaped it some. Then god breathed life into it. In the last part of the statue, man emerges from the earth. Some people say that's how god created humans." Nabby (indignant): "I don't believe that." Queue hysterical laughter from my wife and I as we revel in our good parenting. Be sure to explain to her that she must never think about attending colleges like Notre Dame or Loyola, and if anything happens, tell her to tell the ambulance folks to refuse to go to a hospital named Mercy, or St. Whatever. You want her to be bound by your good parenting, after all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Be sure to explain to her that she must never think about attending colleges like Notre Dame or Loyola, and if anything happens, tell her to tell the ambulance folks to refuse to go to a hospital named Mercy, or St. Whatever. You want her to be bound by your good parenting, after all... If you're going to take his statement to a ridiculous extreme, turnabout is fair play. Reject all secular medicine and limit your own care to leeches, maggots, trepanning, flaggelation, and prayer; and only send your kids to seminaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Fischer Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 If you're going to take his statement to a ridiculous extreme, turnabout is fair play. Reject all secular medicine and limit your own care to leeches, maggots, trepanning, flaggelation, and prayer; and only send your kids to seminaries. Extreme straw man arguments are never used here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Adams Posted July 22, 2008 Author Share Posted July 22, 2008 Be sure to explain to her that she must never think about attending colleges like Notre Dame or Loyola, and if anything happens, tell her to tell the ambulance folks to refuse to go to a hospital named Mercy, or St. Whatever. You want her to be bound by your good parenting, after all... This from the a guy who cries foul when the left compares someone to a Nazi. Way to jump to extremes. First, Tom's response is spot on. Second, that she's engaging in rational thought at age 6 is something I encourage. If she believes in fairies, Santa, and other magic when she's 40+, I'll have done a bad job parenting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanker Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 I hope you at least explained to her what licking lesbians is all about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 First, Tom's response is spot on. Second, that she's engaging in rational thought at age 6 is something I encourage. If she believes in fairies, Santa, and other magic when she's 40+, I'll have done a bad job parenting. ...unless she has a rational basis for it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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