My dh and I were raised Catholic. Him until he moved out (22) and me until 2nd grade. We were both baptized and we are now atheists and our children are not being raised with a religion. If they choose one they will be supported but I've never been a fan of parents determining their child's faith- I'm not happy I was baptized.

Plus I believe in teaching children about ALL religions because contrary to Christian belief there are loads!! & then if the child wants to seek a specific one out & go further with it then it's their choice :) & you know you've done what you can by broadening their minds about the fact that christianity is not the only one or catholic, or Buddhism :) but there are many :)

If your not religious don't do it, I'm not a follower!! I don't do things because it's the done thing lol!! You don't need to be religious to be a good person :) just raise your children well & be loving & forget religious crap :)

My husband and I aren't particularly religious, but we both come from religious families-mine is conservative Christian, his is Muslim. I think that it is beneficial for our children to see a variety of viewpoints within their family. Our son has just started questioning things (since we are staying with my mom right now) and we answer his questions as directly as possible. At some point he will choose the path he wants to follow and as long as he has studied and decided for himself, we will support him completely.

I would definitely have them exposedto some religion simply because it's easier to choose once you've learned about the faith, but if you were never raised in a faith then it's harder to become interested in it. I'd hate for my child to miss an opportunity based off my choice. My children well go to church until they are old enough to decide for that reason :)

I'm not into organized religion. I don't think I would be allowing my children "choice" by raising them with religion. That's indoctrination, taking away choice. I feel once grown or at a appropriate age if they choose religion then I would support them in their journey. You can raise children right as rain with morales & values, right & wrong without religion.

If you want your kids to be religious the best thing to do is going to be having them go to church with people who are passionate about it.

If you go just to encourage them they are going to pick up on your lack of interest. It will be counterproductive. I also do think it's better to go to a non denomination church instead of Catholic or something of the sort of you aren't particularly religious.

Husband was raised catholic and I was raised Christian technically. We both believe in God and his sacrifice, but we plan on raising the kids more spiritual than religious if that makes sense.

We want them to be exposed to a relationship with God but not force them into a certain doctrine ?

I'm atheist. I see no point in taking my kids to church if I don't believe in it myself. I have some family members who are very religious, if they wanted to take my kids to church then I have no problem with that, I think it's good to be exposed to different cultures and religions, but it will be up to them to stick with it or not

We are atheists. I was raised by athiest parents and my husband was raised catholic. Our plan is to educate our children about all religions and respect their beliefs. If they want to attend church we will bring them. It would not surprise me if our kids wanted to attend church as we live in the Bible Belt and they are likely to be influenced by peers. Most of our friends and neighbors are Christians too. I have no issues with Christianity, it is just not for me.

Based on what I think you mean, no. How does someone who isn't religious choose a religion to raise their child in? It's like, here's this thing we don't believe but we want you to until you can decide otherwise. Makes no sense.

I would never shelter my children from any religion or culture though as they are citizens of the world. I think it's important for them to learn about as many as possible and if one speaks to them and isn't a danger to them, I will support them.

My child won't have anything to do with religion at all unless they're old enough to ask questions and think for themselves. If it makes sense to them, and they feel it is right, then I will support them. I myself don't believe in religious stuff, and wont be shoving any opinion either way down my child's throat.

No I wouldn't. When my lo gets older he can choose if he would like to attend church. I'm not going to push (in my opinion) false beliefs on him.

Im not sure what i believe, so believes and has first communion done and all that hes not really catholic though and we don't go to church. While i don't think i will take my child to church regularly i am open to it if so wants too, and think it would be a good idea fo expose our baby to church every so often to get a feel for it, and if he likes it, i would gladly go with him. I will also be encouraging him to foster his own relationship with god..

I'm short....no way no how

DH and I are both catholic but not religious. We baptized both of our children and plan to enroll them in catholic schools once they are old enough to attend. Hence we will raise them catholic just like how DH and I were raised . We will let our kids decide whether or not they want to continue when they're adults but at least they will already have the foundation should they choose to stay catholic.

I'm catholic. While I may not attend church on the regular, I do believe in my religion. I had all 4 of my kids baptised and they attend a Catholic school. They also attend mass there too. We aren't very religious but somewhat religious. If in the future when they can make their own decisions, they can pick their own religion.

I don't see the point in letting anyone take your child to church if you yourself are not religious?? Wanting your child to believe in something you believe in I can understand.. I'm not religious and I will not take my child to church or let anyone else take her she can learn about religion in school and then when she can make the choice for herself if she wants to attend church etc then that's perfectly OK as it will be her choice

This is a sore spot in mine & my boyfriends relationship. Neither of us are religious, but his grandparents are so he's more accepting of it than I am, as I know literally no one who is religious & am fairly against it.

He believes the child should be taught about religion, and encouraged to openly explore it.

I however, do not. I would really rather not expose my child to what seems to be the biggest cause of harm on this world.

I'd rather my child put more time & effort towards things that matter, such as English, maths & science. Use that 2/3 hours or so a week to progress his education in the subjects that'll actually have an effect on his future.

I'd honesty be a little disappointed if my child grew up to become religious. I don't believe religion has a place in a successful future for this world. I'd love to think in a future past my time, religion is no longer around because I can't see us progressing as society if it's still there.

Neither of us are religious, but both of our families are very devout Mormons. I have told my parents they are allowed to bless our baby (something Mormons do for newborns). Mormons baptize their members at 8 years old. If my child would like to attend church with active family members that's fine by me. I however think 8 is way to young to decide on a religion. If my child wants to be baptized, I would prefer they are old enough to understand what they are committing to. We plan on being fully honest with our children about our spirituality, while letting them choose their own path.

My SO & I aren't religious, but I'm a very firm believer that my son should be brought up Catholic like I was. I want him christened, baptized, going to church school, the whole 9 yards. The only problem is that churches here aren't down to do any of that unless the parents are active members of the church. I don't want my son being brought up with our beliefs, I definitely want him to have his own opinion.

SO and I have no religion, therefor we do not mention religion or God in our household. My oldest is a little less than 5 1/2 and I believe that she is too young to learn about religion. (Again, in my own opinion) When my kids are old enough and if they ask, I will tell them about religion and how there is more than one and so on. If they decide that they want to know more about one, they can do so and decide if they want to follow or not but no shoving down my other children's throats about it or others in general and no over speaking of it.

No. I feel like sending a child to church etc when you don't believe in God would be a very odd thing to do, and I think it undermines a different, valid belief system.

I will however, tell my son about religion (I've studied a few) - and discuss what other people believe, and what I believe. If he wants to learn more at any point I will arrange it.

I will not teach something I don't believe. It would be biased and unfair to whoever (whomever?) I'd be teaching. If my child decides they want to learn I'll either leave the teaching to SO or find a church/synagogue/hall/temple and allow them to talk to the religious leader, or find them an age appropriate book.

df is an atheist and im not.

as dd grows i will teach her about my beliefs but i wont shove it down her throat. as she grows older and ends up being an atheist as well, i wont shun her or force god and all things holy on her. she is her own person.

My husband and I aren't religious at all and our home is that of such. We are raising our daughter this way.

However, if our daughter ever expresses an interest or has questions and isn't satisfied with the answers we have, I would hold her hand and help her discover a religion that suited her needs without judgement.

So and I are not very religious. I will not be raising my children in a religious home. If in the future they hear about different religions and are interested I will not stop them from choosing that path.

I don't like organized religion. It doesn't fit my beliefs. DH is atheist.

My children go to church with my aunt. I wouldn't want to take them, as they get so excited to go, and I would not be excited which would dampen their enthusiasm. My aunt is always very excited about her church and loves taking the kids.

It opens religion as an option to them and allows them to have a relationship with God if that's what they want.

But I don't do it just because it's something others deem expected. I do it because it's not my choice in what my kids believe and if I don't open religion as a choice then I didn't really give them an option did I?

Wow pp your poor other half. I don't get why churches turn people away when faith in some countries is at an all time low. Church attendances here are WAY down on what they used to be even 10 years ago. It's mostly the older generations that attend church so they're crying out for younger patrons. I think if any church turned someone away for something as silly as having tattoos they don't deserve your other half's time. As for your parents having a civil marriage, I remember my own grandmother telling me a similar story. A priest refused to listen to her confession because she was married in a registry office. She hasn't attended church since them ( almost 40 years) but she does believe in God.

When I was a kid, my parents decided to allow my sisters and I to choose our own paths when it came to religion. They had an issue with Catholic Churches when we moved. The two closest churches to us turned us away because we didn't live in their district, whatever that meant. One accepted us, but would not christen my youngest sister because my parents were married in a courthouse and not in a church. They had a small vow renewal ceremony in the church in order to have the christening just to appease my grandmother. Shortly after that they decided to let us choose for ourselves. When I was 18 or so I read up on different religions that intrigued me, but I ultimately decided religion isn't for me. Recently df decided he wanted to try going to church. He went to the Catholic Church down the street from us. He got there early because he wanted to talk to the priest about a few things and he was told he could not join them for service. He was not given a reason, but we assume it's because he has several visible tattoos. He now understands why I am not religious and agrees that we will allow dd to make her own choices when it comes to religion. I will support whatever decision she makes.

I'm not religious and I would raise my child in a religious home either. If they were to choose to go to church I would let them. I wouldn't hold them back, but I wouldn't purposely raise them in a religious home.

@maalika that's a very good point about explaining death etc.

@kathiee that's why I feel maybe bringing LO to church might be better than us forcing our opinion of religion on then. We can explain about science and the church and grandparents can explain about God and faith.

@ll that's exactly what I don't want to do. I don't want to "cheapen" religion for him/her. If it comes to a stage where LO wants to discuss religion with DF and myself I'm sure we'll find a way of explaining why we don't have faith. I just believe it's important for them to make their own informed choice. If they do come to believe in God, or Buddah or anything they want we'll support that 100 %

That's actually a very good idea Creepy. My SOs parents are very religious so maybe they could take LO to church and show him/her the proper enthusiasm. They would also be able to educate LO about Catholicism better than we ever could.

Exposing your child to God and Eucharist is important for their faith formation.

However - if you don't believe - it cheapens it.

I'm religious, but I don't attend church or anything. I just believe in God. My dh is atheist and we have talked about it. He told me he doesn't want me telling our lo what to believe in to let her choose herself. He said we can tell her both about God and about science and let her decide, but I feel like he would influence her into not believing because of some comments he makes (they're kind of offensive to me) I'm not sure if he realizes what he's saying