A lot of parents, even atheist parents, think they need to raise their children with religion to teach them ethics and morals.
Now, obviously, you can do these things without religion. I mean, even kids can tell you why lying and stealing are wrong because they don't want anyone to do it to them and Jesus never comes into the equation.
Some parents teach their kids religion because their parents or relatives want it to happen that way.
But I want to tell you that raising your kids with religion, especially if you don't believe it, is a really bad idea.
Here are 5 reasons why you shouldn't teach religion to your child
Religion often teaches children to do the right things for the wrong reasons
As a former math teacher, teaching kids religious reasons for behaving ethically is like handing kids a formula sheet before a test.Religion often teaches children to suppress their doubts and questions.
Do you remember reading Calvin and Hobbes where Calvin would ask very good questions, but his dad would make up these crazy fictional answers just to mess with them? It was funny. But that trust can fade.Kids will believe whatever you tell them, so don't lie
It suggests that faith is a virtue
It teaches them to accept bad explanations.
Religion is a set of bad answers to good questions. Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? Why do bad things happen to good people?
Those are great questions. And they don't all have answers. But religion has created answers based off of nothing. And people accept those answers because they don't like to live with uncertainty.
But we shouldn't settle for bad answers when there are better ones out there or if there are no answers at all. Let's not stifle the incredible curiosity of children by giving them the answers to questions that they need to work out on their own.
But that's what religion does.