The Morality of Babes

“Objective morality is revealed to us by God” --this is as close to a Christian universal as I can get. A question I often ask is: how do we know what actions are objectively right and which are objectively wrong. I get one of two answers: (a) that the Word of God is spelled out in the Bible and we should follow it’s guidelines for morality, or (b) that we are born with a moral compass that shows us God’s Nature. The first answer is an assertion that their holy book isn’t just a good idea, it’s the law--and that’s all it is. Claims can be made about anything when there is no expectation to back them up. The second answer is more interesting, and one in which I have gained extra insight in the last couple years.

I’m the father of twins, a boy and a girl. It certainly seems like they were not born with morality. They are born to suck. It’s wired into their little brains to find a boob or bottle and suck vigorously. When they get a little older, their nature is to crawl. Before they have any business crawling, I saw them constantly attempting to flip over and push themselves up. The first moral act I witnessed was decidedly immoral by adult standards. The boy hit the girl and the girl quick returned fire. There was escalation until it became an arms race mired with theft and snitching. I can chalk up a lot of what I observed to instinct, but I never observed a sense of right conduct.

Granted, this is hardly scientific. An anecdotal account with a sample size of two shouldn’t convince you of anything...but my wife specifically said no experiments on the children, so it’s all I got. This is my experience. There is going to be a long road ahead teaching my kids to morally socialize. I imagine I could use the good bits of the bible as examples of good behavior, but why cherry pick? I’d much rather draw on my own experience. Wish me luck.

The Case for Raising Children with Religion

Christians are often Christian because their parents were Christian and raised them Christian. The same can be said for Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and just about every other faith. It’s tradition, and tradition is a lousy reason to believe anything. It’s barely a reason at all. It’s just, well...tradition.

Don’t get me wrong, if I was raising my kids in a cultural vacuum, I’d never introduce Allah, Vishnu or the Force into their education. Fortunately, the U.S.A. is not a vacuum. It’s rich, diverse culture includes not one, but all possible deities. I can’t pretend this doesn’t exist. Therein lies the problem.
I have two choices.

1. Indoctrinate my children in a new tradition of atheism.
2. Allow my children to reach their own conclusion regarding the existence of gods.

Indoctrination into reality is preferable to indoctrination into myth, but why pass up the most important critical thinking lesson of their life? I plan on introducing my kids to God (the Christian one, because he’s most popular around here) in the same way I will introduce them to Santa. When, not if, they ask questions like:

• How does Santa travel to every house in one night?
• How did God part the Red Sea?
• Why don’t we see miracles like in the Bible anymore?
• How does Santa get back up the chimney?
• Why are there different Santas at different malls?
• Why are there different gods at different churches?

I will help them reason their way to the their own conclusions. If they decide that the most likely outcome is, yes, magic is real and allows for jolly gift-givers and personal deities, then I will accept that. Somehow I doubt they will.