Of all of the problems that atheists might experience with their families, those involving their own children are perhaps among the most emotional and difficult to resolve. Many people honestly believe that children require religion and God in order to be raised morally and properly — so if atheist parents don't offer that, they will feel compelled to intervene and replace what they believe the parents are failing provide.
If both parents are atheists then the situation will likely be easier, because they can come to some arrangement about what to do and present a united front against meddling from their respective families. If only one parent is an atheist, however, complications may be multiplied if each partner has different ideas regarding the role of religion and theism in a child's life.
So, what role should religion play in parenting and childhood? Should children be raised in a religious environment in order to develop morals? Should children even be educated about religion? These are difficult questions that merit serious consideration — preferably before getting married and before having children.
What should I tell my kids about religion?
When children are raised in a religious environment, what they are taught about religion is relatively obvious and organized — but what about kids raised in a non-religious environment? If you aren't specifically teaching your kids to believe in any gods or to follow any religious systems, then it may be tempting to just ignore the topic entirely. That, however, would probably be a mistake.
Should I raise my kids as atheists?
Christians raise their children as Christians, Jews raise their children as Jews, and Muslims raise their children as Muslims, so doesn't it make sense that atheists raise their children as atheists? That might seem to be the case at first glance, but in reality it doesn't make all that much sense after all.
Invitations to Religious Services
What should you do if your child is invited to attend religious services with friends of theirs?
There is no easy way to answer this question because the most fundamental response is "it
depends" — and it depends on quite a lot of things which necessarily change from context to
context.
What happens when your family pushes religion on your kids?
If you are trying to raise your children without also forcing them to adopt a particular religious faith, there can be a lot of conflict with other family members who honestly believe that religion and God are key factors in a good and moral upbringing. Resolving that conflict is necessary not only for your relationships with your family, but also to ensure that your child doesn't become confused or torn between loved ones.
Attending Religious Services
You may not be raising your child to follow any particular religion and you may in fact be encouraging your child to learn about many different religious beliefs on an equal basis, but that doesn't mean that she will never become interested in actively participating in one particular religious faith. You may at some time be faced with a request to regularly attend a church, a synagogue, a mosque, or some other site for religious services.
