I don’t want to raise a child that thinks she believes in god.

Well, I can only speak for myself, but I don’t feel that it’s my job to tell my children what to believe. I’ll be disappointed, of course, if my children choose to believe superstitious hogwash, but it really is their decision. Otherwise, I’m really not any better than the millions of Christian parents who brainwash their children to their own belief system.

What we can do is give them the tools to make rational choices with regard to their beliefs. I am to do this, and this article covers some of the ways I plan to do it.

For comparison to your own daughter, I should point out that my 8-year-old has currently decided that she worships “trees and people”, and does not hesitate to share this with anyone whenever the topic of beliefs come up (thus ensuring my embarrassment before both my skeptic and my Christian friends ). My 5-year-old son sometimes prays; I think the 8-year-old may sometimes do so as well. I don’t hassle them about it; I usually don’t even say anything. They know what my thoughts on God and prayer are.

My perspective is that they are simply too young to be informed enough to make such decisions, so I shouldn’t be too concerned with whatever temporary belief-state they may currently find themselves at. In the meantime, I think the best things we can do for our kids is to teach them skeptical and critical thinking, and especially, to teach them the Bible. I agree with Isaac Asimov when he said that “properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.” I am convinced that no amount of family-and-friend-induced indoctrination can stand up to exposure, from an early age, to the many problems, inconsistencies, and atrocities enacted in the name of God that permeate the Bible. Therefore, I am not bothered by the many various insinuations that the influence of Scripture has had on my children (including, as mentioned in the article, some that I myself have exposed them to). I don’t believe that the various claims of Christianity are remotely substantiated enough to threaten rational thought, when presented side-by-side; rather, they eradicate alternative viewpoints through the use of exclusive indoctrination from an early age. So long as more reasonable perspectives are made available to your children, I think they’ll end up alright.

Living in the Bible Belt, where they’ll get a bit more consistent bombardment with Christian dogma, you may need to put a greater focus on presenting alternative views to your children, and emphasizing that Christianity is not the only way of thinking, than I will; but I’d encourage you not to try to direct your children’s choices for what they will believe; they need to have the freedom to choose. And what they choose to believe now is not nearly so important as what they determine to latch onto when they have grown up to live their own lives. I think the tools to recognize rational and irrational beliefs are more important than the beliefs themselves, at this young stage in life.