Why I Raise My Children Without God

This post on CNN's iReport website was flagged by some readers as 'inapppropriate'. I read it because as an atheist myself I'm always interested in what other non-believers say about raising children. I'm bothering to post a link to it here because of the fact that it was flagged as inappropriate - not by CNN, but presumably by religious readers appalled at the idea of someone not lying to their own kids about there being a god out there who does whatever gods do. And worse, she tells her kids to be good and decent anyway, not just because they'll go to hell otherwise. Flagging such a simple blog post says a lot about the narrow-minded ignorance that comes along with religious faith - the belief that your god has given you and people like you a path to eternal bliss, and everyone else can (literally) go to Hell. It's not a good thing for a society to have people who think that way.

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-910282

There is no ultimate truth, no absolute to be understood, no "way". God is a construct of religion dependent on specific cultures, so cannot be taken as an expression of any absolute or truth - just one particular culture's idea of it. But just because no particular book or philosophy points to an ultimate truth does not mean we can't find help in the writings of others, writers or thinkers who have experienced and contemplated life experiences - usually painful, or difficult, which are the ones we need help with. To take the teachings of the Buddha, or any Zen master, or Jesus, or whoever, as the correct way to live life is a mistake, and can lead to problems, both personal and societal. But we can benefit by extracting some wisdom from their teachings that may offer insight into our current situation, or may alleviate our suffering a tiny bit, or help us better understand and deal with the difficulties of life.