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Aw, crud.

Nanda

Polyanna
My son told me that his teacher was asking the children in his class if they believe in god. I don't want to be nagging atheist mom, but this is out of line. It's not even that I want to shelter him from all notions of god, I don't, but this is a public school! It's MY job to discuss religion with him, not theirs. How would you deal with this? I don't want to cause any bad feelings, and I certainly don't want them to start treating my son any differently.
 

Booko

Deviled Hen
Yes, actually it might matter what the context was.

I would be extremely sensitive to questions like this as well, Nanda.

But if my kids 2nd grade teacher had asked, I would've assumed that she was trying to put together some educational time where every child could make a representation about their families beliefs, and in an evenhanded way. She was good at that.
 

Halcyon

Lord of the Badgers
No idea. Does it matter, really?
It could, they might just want to get an idea of the religious make up of their class. How old is your little boy? Surely he's been exposed to the Christian god-concept from TV etc already?
 

Nanda

Polyanna
Yes, actually it might matter what the context was.

I would be extremely sensitive to questions like this as well, Nanda.

But if my kids 2nd grade teacher had asked, I would've assumed that she was trying to put together some educational time where every child could make a representation about their families beliefs, and in an evenhanded way. She was good at that.

They did something like that already around Christmas/Hannukah time, and I certainly didn't take issue with it, because it was obvious that it was a learning thing from the context. This seems a bit different. I'm not furious here, and I'm certainly not going to storm down to the school and throw a fit, I'm just...wary.
 

Nanda

Polyanna
I think it's more a question of "Was it just a question? Or was s/he trying to teach them about it?"

I don't know. The question seems inappropriate, though. They're kindergarteners. Why not ask the parents? Or why does it matter at all?
 

Nanda

Polyanna
It could, they might just want to get an idea of the religious make up of their class. How old is your little boy? Surely he's been exposed to the Christian god-concept from TV etc already?

Again, it's not a question of exposure; I'm not trying to sheild him from religion. If it's just a question of religious make up, then, again, why not ask the parents? Or why not ask "What's your religion," rather than "Do you believe in God?" I don't know...
 

Charity

Let's go racing boys !
My son told me that his teacher was asking the children in his class if they believe in god. I don't want to be nagging atheist mom, but this is out of line. It's not even that I want to shelter him from all notions of god, I don't, but this is a public school! It's MY job to discuss religion with him, not theirs. How would you deal with this? I don't want to cause any bad feelings, and I certainly don't want them to start treating my son any differently.

I would just ignore the situation. Let the other children learn to love and respect your son for the person he is, the personality, leadership qualities, any talents he has, or if he is good in sports. When he is older he can make his choice whether to tell them about his beliefs.. I know you are satisfied with your choice of atheism, but at this stage they may shun him because of what you believe and that is not fair to him. I admit it is narrowminded of people to do this, but unfortunately that is how it works. I don't think it would matter so much to the other children, but the parents is where the judgemental thinking would originate.

If you wanted to speak with the teacher in private it may keep some further situation from advancing to something which is awkward for everyone, especially the children.
 

Magic Man

Reaper of Conversation
Again, it's not a question of exposure; I'm not trying to sheild him from religion. If it's just a question of religious make up, then, again, why not ask the parents? Or why not ask "What's your religion," rather than "Do you believe in God?" I don't know...

I think you give most Americans too much credit. I don't think most kindergarten teachers would even think to ask "What's your religion" rather than "Do you believe in God". I'm not saying we shouldn't try to raise awareness, but...
 

Nanda

Polyanna
I think you give most Americans too much credit. I don't think most kindergarten teachers would even think to ask "What's your religion" rather than "Do you believe in God". I'm not saying we shouldn't try to raise awareness, but...

What are you saying?
 

Nanda

Polyanna
I would just ignore the situation. Let the other children learn to love and respect your son for the person he is, the personality, leadership qualities, any talents he has, or if he is good in sports. When he is older he can make his choice whether to tell them about his beliefs.. I know you are satisfied with your choice of atheism, but at this stage they may shun him because of what you believe and that is not fair to him. I admit it is narrowminded of people to do this, but unfortunately that is how it works. I don't think it would matter so much to the other children, but the parents is where the judgemental thinking would originate.

If you wanted to speak with the teacher in private it may keep some further situation from advancing to something which is awkward for everyone, especially the children.

He's only six, he doesn't even know what his beliefs are yet. That's why I'm thinking that asking the question in the classroom at this age is rather inappropriate.
 

Magic Man

Reaper of Conversation
What are you saying?

I'm just saying that whatever you do, I would just go from the perspective that the teacher just didn't know better than to ask the question the way s/he did. Kind of like approaching it more from the angle of trying to inform her/him that there is more to it than just the Abrahamic God, because s/he probably just thinks of it as you either believe in Christianity or you are not religious, rather than approaching it from the angle of her/him purposely asking the question that way to "teach" them about God.
 

lunamoth

Will to love
Yeah, I'd say that's out of line and I'd keep an eye out for more comments along those lines. If it were me though I'd wait before making an issue out of it. As it is, it's a good chance to ask your son "well, what did you think about that?" He's going to have people, kids, adults, people in authority, bring God and religion up sooner or later. I know I wouldn't have the energy to fight against all that. Better to prepare our kids to think about and answer those questions on their own.

We go to church and God is a topic in our house, but we've still encountred situations where kids at school and even teachers say something that I disagree with, and things that are not the message I want my kids to have. The most common one is a fundamentalist attitude that says other people go to hell. That's not what I believe or teach, but my kids encountered that one as early as kindergarten. So yeah, we had to talk about that, about 'how different people believe different things,' 'here is what I believe,' and 'what do you think?'

Best wishes.
 

Gentoo

The Feisty Penguin
Again, it's not a question of exposure; I'm not trying to sheild him from religion. If it's just a question of religious make up, then, again, why not ask the parents? Or why not ask "What's your religion," rather than "Do you believe in God?" I don't know...

Perhaps for the age group, "Do you believe in God?" is an easier question than "What's your religion?"?
 

whereismynotecard

Treasure Hunter
Well... If the teacher was just asking IF the students believed in god, and was not arguing for either way, it might not be a problem... I don't know why the teacher would need to know that, but it might not be a big deal...

I do agree that teachers should not be talking about religion in schools though...
 

Nanda

Polyanna
I'm just saying that whatever you do, I would just go from the perspective that the teacher just didn't know better than to ask the question the way s/he did. Kind of like approaching it more from the angle of trying to inform her/him that there is more to it than just the Abrahamic God, because s/he probably just thinks of it as you either believe in Christianity or you are not religious, rather than approaching it from the angle of her/him purposely asking the question that way to "teach" them about God.

It's not that I think she's trying to "teach" them about God, per se, I just can't see why the question is relevant or appropriate in a public school's Kindergarten class.
 

Magic Man

Reaper of Conversation
It's not that I think she's trying to "teach" them about God, per se, I just can't see why the question is relevant or appropriate in a public school's Kindergarten class.

I hear ya. I'd probably just let it go, at least until something else happened. I don't know, though, considering I don't have kids yet.
 
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