religion, children, parentingAre there any clear, simple explanations of atheism which would be appropriate for use when speaking with an 8 year old child?
If the 8 years old knows that there are religions and that some people worship/believe in god(s), there is no reason why you wouldn’t be able to tell the child something like:
“Atheist are people who think that there is no reason to believe that there is/are any god/s because there isn’t any evidence that it/they exists.”
It isn’t beyond 8-years-old’s grasp. You can give an example that some people may believe that there is a fire breathing dragon in the kitchen, but there is no evidence for it whatsoever. Of course (and hopefully), the child is curious enough to ask further question about how do atheists see the world or about meaning and etc., but that’s a different subject altogether.
Moreover, it’s a great chance to stimulate the child’s brain by making him think when you ask “why do you think there is god?” and make them try to reason and try to reach their conclusion. Of course, you can direct the child with helper question or examples too. I think it can be a great lesson, and one that every parent should teach his child - critical thinking.
One piece at a time!
Explaining atheism to my kids has been one of the best experiences ever. For my six year old, we basically don’t get into it except to say that daddy doesn’t go to church, and doesn’t think that she needs to either.
For my (almost) nine year old, the experience has been a total delight. Since she’s old enough to not really believe in Santa anymore, we’ve had great discussions about how we know things and how we test things. We’ve talked about where God would live, how prayer would have to work, and how to test these things. We did research on the internet to see if god has ever healed a chopped off arm or leg, or if anyone has ever filmed a miracle. We’ve talked about con-men, and how they prey on the fears of the gullible and we’ve talked about priests.
We’ve stopped in front of churches, and we’ve talked about where that money comes from. We’ve talked about how something invisible and intangible like gravity has real and measurable effects, and how you can predict the effects. We’ve talked about air, and how even though air is invisible, you can feel it.
Then of course we’ve brought it all together and talked about how it’s probably all a con to get people’s money and their power, if there’s no way to measure it, you have to take someone’s word for it, and any attempt to prove it is met with resistance.
I guess that would all depend on whether they still believed in Santa Claus.
I think the question is backwards. How would you explain religion to a child?
Just tell a story: “what if you would want to go play outside?” “I would” “And if I told you it’s raining outside” “Then I won’t go” “wouldn’t you check?” “So I check” “It does not rain outside”
Never believe anything without checking the facts. every child should learn that. after that little lesson ask:
“what if I told you there is an invisible man in the sky that made the entire world and cares about every little thing you do?” the answer should be “I would check” “there are no evidence, and you are told you need to believe, that there is no explanation you could find”. the answer should be something like “I still can’t believe it.” “Good, most likely the person who told you that is trying to ‘keep you home’ “
short explanations on scienve followed by a few nice clips in youtube about abiogenesys and the big bang should be the next step.
I guess I would say something like that, even if part of it is not understood, this could be a germ of something:
“Atheist are people assuming that the world makes sense only through things that can be measured directly and physically, like the things you can feel with your hands, you hears, your taste or your eyes. They don’t think there is anything more than a physical illusion in what you feel with your spirit or with your heart, like when you love someone, give faith to your parents, friends, or to man in general. They think the images you build up in your head can only be understood as a sampled reduced view of the real (i.e. physical) world. They believe a bomb is more dangerous to the world than anger between men. They believe human being is nothing more than the sum of human physical entities that breath now, for example, they don’t believe pieces of the spirit and some habits of your grand grand mother are still existing in me (or they believe it is not meaningfull). They believe life can only be undestood as a succession of physical events and that desteny is prediction of future physical events. They believe what you feel that when you feel connected with other people (for example when you read a book and have a very strong agreement with what is said in the book, or when you see someone suffering and suffer with him) is best explained through connecting it with phisical rules from the physical world (like an apple falling down from a tree).”
“Atheist are people who think that there is no reason to believe that there is/are any god/s because there isn’t any evidence that it/they exists.”
The evidence is the stars, the sky, the sun, the moon, and the very beautiful earth we walk on. Could man have created this world we live in? nope, could it be, just a small chance, that there is a supreme creator that has made this world and every beautiful thing in it? Likely.
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