Pushing my kids to the edge

Someone save me. I live in a very conservative town in Texas. The kind where people pray for the silliest of things: lower gas prices, wins for their teams, good grades for their kids, a buyer for their house, that sort of thing. We have more churches here than any other type of business, and yes, church is a business. A lucrative one. My town is home to a church that has it’s own gym, bowling alley and rock-climbing wall. This church has more amenities than any of our hotels, nicer facilities than our schools.

I’m raising two kids in this town. I’m raising them to see religion for what it is: a crutch for man’s weaknesses. Long before Sam Harris and the anti-god movement came along and helped those on the fringe feel less marginalized, I was pushing my kids to the edge and teaching them how illogical relgiion is. It is not hard to do. At least, now, there is some acceptance of agnosticism (though not much here).  I am also working against their father, an ultra-conservative Baptist.  He tells me I’m going to hell for not praying, for my views, for not being a “Christian.” But I say, if you need a god looking over your shoulder to be good, then you’re not really good. I am teaching my kids that this is the only heaven we know. I am teaching them to internalize their moral code and to be good because it’s the right thing to do, not because it gives them a one-way ticket to some fantasy land.