Slate: 'Is religion good for children?'

We had an interesting evening last night, which fit in nicely with this conversation here.

For his birthday, my 5-year-old had received a Noah's Ark memory/matching game. (We humorously suspected it was re-gifted.)

When I got home, the box was out on the table, and he asked to play. At first, I figured he just thought it was an animal matching game. But within seconds, he said, "Dad, why did god flood the world?"

I said, "Well, that's actually not true. Do you know what a myth is?"

And we talked about how people, in the "olden days" before science was advanced like it is now, had to make up stories to explain the world. I told him this was different than a "fairy tale" (his term for fiction), because people certainly did believe these stories to be true at one time. He asked about Jonah and the whale, and I explained that that was also a myth, but that there was a great lesson to be learned from it about perseverence through difficult situations. I volunteered that Adam and Eve was also a myth, because we know that people really arrived via evolution. I volunteered the Ten Commandments story as another example. He was not familiar with it.

I then explained the difference between the Old and New Testament, and how the Old Testament was not very reliable, but instead basically a book of mythology. I said: "For example, the Old Testament says that the earth is only 6,000 years old. But we know it's billions of years old, right?" He thought it was pretty funny that the Old Testament said that.

He then asked, "Is Jesus real?" I told him that yes, he was.

We then moved onto discussing how different cultures and societies have their own mythology, like ancient Rome, ancient Greece, and Native Americans. I told him that the ancient Greeks and Romans thought there were many, many gods, not just one. He thought this was exciting, and we ended up finding a Roman myth on the Internet and reading it together.

So I guess I'm on the hook for some mythology books for children now.

All in all, a very constructive conversation for both of us. (My wife was in the room, too, but doing something else.)

 

The 10 Commandments are a myth?

If we could just find the Arch of the Covenant, we'd have proof that they are real.

 

Sounds like a fun night.

 

Dick's going to get calls from angry parents when his kid starts telling their kids how everything they believe is a myth.

 

God dictated 10 rules to live by, directly, to a human standing on a mountain top?

Yeah, I'm pretty confident saying that didn't actually happen.

If I turn out to be wrong, I'll run a correction.

 

He starts public school in two weeks, along with a lot of kids who I assume are from Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim families. So I'm guessing they'll all be swapping tall tales.

 

Well, to be fair, it was originally 15.

 

Then we pretended we were trapping dinosaurs that had busted into the house.

 

Sounds like a typical 5-year-old conversation. They'll watch Thomas the Train and then read aloud from the Koran.

 

My sons, who pray every day and go to church almost every week, get Star Wars figures, legos and Imaginext playsets for their birthday, but we're weird like that.

 

It came from my brother-in-law and his family. He got a real gift, too, like one of the things you mentioned. This was a throw-in. They are church-goers, so I assume it was something that one of his kids got at some point and never touched.

 

I was teasing. I would actually probably be annoyed at someone giving a gift like that to my kids.

You should give their kids copies of "Inherit the Wind" for their birthdays.