Raising Freethinkers

When I was ten years old, I heard the word "agnostic" for the first time.  I asked my dad what it meant and he gave me a brief explanation, but encouraged me to look it up myself.  In the archaic age of paper-based research, I did just that.  As a naturally inquisitive child, I immersed myself in that research.  My focus wasn't just on agnosticism and atheism, it was on theology.  It was on the world's religions.  

I began reading the Christian Bible and requested my mom take me to the church services of a few different denominations.  None of it clicked with me.  Over the years, I consistently found so many disparities between myself and any deity or organized religion, that I nearly certainly considered myself agnostic.  I wasn't sure that a deity outside of the those in mythology and tall tales existed, but I couldn't bring myself to think one certainly did NOT exist.  

I traveled through adolescence on a quest to find something that made me feel differently.  I was almost always the odd one out.  So few of my peers could fathom my disbelief.  That adversity caused me much introspection and even more knowledge-seeking.  I continued to read the Bible, I continued to learn, I watched religious-based films...I was searching to be proven wrong.  But, I wasn't.  As I became a young adult, I realized that I am an atheist.  I am still fascinated by religion, but it is not mine to have.  

I refuse to baptize my children "just in case", because I think it is preposterous to consider that a child even has the capacity to "sin". 

I do not fear death without an afterlife, because I know that the true "afterlife" is the memories we gift to those still living.

I do not need salvation, because I live an imperfect life that I am proud of.  

I know that my children are not deprived of the valuable lessons that can come with religious affiliation, because I lead my life as a role model that I am comfortable with them emulating. 

We learn so much more by what is modeled for us, than what is merely spoken to us.  So instead of regaling life's lessons through age-old stories, I do it with my words and actions each and every day.  I am not necessarily raising Christians or Muslims or Buddhists, I am just raising good people who are free to think as they choose.  So for any religious-based worries for my children, I bid a sincere "no thank you".  Mike and I long ago chose to impart our children with knowledge, rather than religious affiliation.  We will let each of our daughters check-mark their own boxes when it comes to spiritual identification.