Faith
“I’m the least-liked kid at camp,” Stepboy greets me yesterday as I pick him up.
“Why is that?” I asked.
“Because I don’t believe in God.”
I was thrown for a loop on this one. He’s twelve. I know that my husband & I are not religious people, but we don’t advocate atheism in our house. It’s never really been discussed, so I assume he picked up these beliefs elsewhere. But the die-hard Catholic upbringing in me was shocked. How can you not believe in God when you’re twelve? When you’re at the height of imagination, and life is easy? Who would snatch the comfort of a supreme-being away from a child and replace it with a cold, faithless world? Whether you believe or not is your choice, but is it really all that horrible if you do?
I wasn’t given a choice. I was raised Catholic because that’s the way you did it in my family. I learned the Bible and for a while, almost knew it word for word. But I didn’t understand what I was being taught until I reached my mid-twenties. Then the reality of what was coming out of my mouth was starting to not make sense. So it was then that I decided that Catholicism was not for me. But I respect the tradition and underlying message of the religion. Buried beneath the layers of man-made bullshit (my opinion), I believe there is something out there. I don’t know if his/her name is God, Allah, Budda, Jesus, or whatever… what matters is that I believe in a BEING, and that brings me comfort, and I can live happily within that realm. But to not have a belief at 12, for some reason, just makes me profoundly sad. If anything, a belief in God brings comfort in times of need. Who does this kid have to fall back on when something bad happens? How do you teach a child faith when he’s been taught to not have any?
June 14th, 2006 at 10:26 am
Well, we differ here, but I have a great compassion for your step-son. His view can seem hopeless and I wonder if he’s stuggling with the questions like, what happens when I die or is it all worth it? A belief in God, not just a tipping of the hat, in my opinion, where you trust Him and know Him is a remedy for the hopelessness. I would love to help how I can or just listen if necessary.
I was like you in regards to religious traditions. I had to find the truth for myself and found it wasn’t in the church I attended. I encourage that in my children. If they end up not following my religious traditions, it will make me sad, but I would rather they seek the truth.
~Jef
June 17th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
I’d have to tell him that God believes in HIM.
I think it’s not Faith at all, but rather the natural almost-teen to full-fledged teen concerns that he’s not like everyone else and “different” means “bad” at that age. It takes some time to look around one day and say “Screw ‘em, this is who I am, deal with it or drop dead!”.