The Opposites of Child Rearing: Christian vs Atheist

Christian, Erik Martin:
Atheist father.

" As a child with an atheist parent, I wasn't really exposed to church until my parents got divorced. My father is an atheist and my mother was raised as a Mormon. I did not know that Church was a thing until my parents divorced and my mom and I moved to Hampton, Virginia.

I was not receptive at first, because naturally you should not believe everything you hear. It took a little while for me to catch on. Pastor Thomas at Calvary Chapel Virginia Beach gave me my first bible. I started to read the bible a little bit every day and I was hooked.

I have been going to church ever since. When I speak to my dad on the phone, he has one rule: I can not talk about church.

He told me that he believes "God is like Santa Claus, they are both nice things to believe in, but neither of them are true." We both have differing views on church. He thinks I am silly for believing in "such nonsense."

If he asks me about my day and I tell him that I went to youth group or church, he just ignores the fact and he moves on and the conversation switches gears.

At first I tried to switch his opinion about church and god, but I have realized that it is not worth my time. I never had any of the experiences people here have had like singing church songs in the choir as a little kid.

I still struggle remembering the words to the church songs and people look at me like I am a bad kid for not knowing the words. People need to not judge a book by its cover sometimes.

However, the most important thing to remember about atheists and
people that believe in different religions than you do is to respect
their opinion and don't paint Christians in a bad light.

If a person has only met one Christian in their life and the person was a jerk, what do you think that person will assume about all Christians? They will probably assume that all Christians are judgmental."



Atheist, Miles Joyner
Religious Parents

" I've always loved my parents, and always will. But a few years ago a time came that caused my parents and I to hit a fork. What they had raised me as, what they had always wanted me to be, had been lost. It was about two years ago when I told my family I didn't share their religious beliefs.

 

They were confused and upset, and I knew that. I just couldn't find the right way to tell them that for years I had been feeling like I didn't belong in the church, or the religion for that matter.

 I was raised to love Jesus, to pray before I ate, and to always love your neighbor. I went to Sunday School and all the church retreats that I could go on. I even went to the same summer camp every summer. But towards the end I began to feel like nothing was meant for me. After being ignored by the people that said they were my friend on Sunday but acted like strangers a Monday, and watching as some of the most Christian kids I knew would act devote and do a 180° the next day, I finally got the feeling that this wasn't going to be my life style. This belief that had a history of anger and hatred, not unlike others religions, was not the belief I wanted anymore.

 

The purpose of my point of view is not to anger, it is not to shame or bash. It is to help those that don't realize that the path away from religion can be as freeing to one person, as the path too religion can be for others. I don't hate Christianity or any other form of religion and I won't argue about whether your wrong or right for believing it. I just know that it's not something I want or need."