As you might have guessed, I am (like most average Swede), not particularly religious. I believe there is something, but not necessarily the cookie-cutter view that most people have of God. I guess I am more spiritual than religious.
I don't want to impose my views on my daughter, like I see so many Americans doing, rather, I would like to present the different views if she asks and let her come up with her own conclusions.
When I was 4-5 I was forced to attend Sunday School, when our family briefly lived in the Jönköping area, Sweden's equivalent to the American "bible belt". I resented going, it was just something you did because everyone else in town did it. I don't want that for Sarah.
So when she asks about God (hard not to hear people talk about religion, the US is a pretty religious country), or things of that nature, I try to explain what the general Christian beliefs are, but at the same time also present the views of other people. After all, there are lots of different religions out there. I deliberately took a class in religion in college just to find out more, I find it very interesting from an anthropological point of view.
Yesterday we drove by a Greek Orthodox church that they have been building for a long time, and it looked like it is finally completed. She asked what kind of building it is, and I replied it is a church. And she of course asked what a church is, which I explained as a place some people go to for praying to and feeling closer to God. And naturally that led to a question what God is.
Well, it is not exactly an easy explanation to fit into a 5 minute car ride, but I think I explained what God represents for people. That people often feel they can feel God's presence while in church.
I was thinking that her head must be full of thoughts about God and what it means while we continued driving, she was so quiet.
After a little while she pointed to another church that is being built, and she asked if it was a church too. I said that it was, indeed.
All she said was: "With all these churches being built, there must be a lot of God coming here then". Interesting interpretation!
5 comments:
Klockrent sagt av Sarah...
-Mari-
Bra att du låter hela frågeställningen stå öppen... så behöver det inte bli något färdigt religions-paket att revoltera mot sen i tonåren...
din dotter får en mycket openminded uppfostran... det gillas av gammelmoster...
Barns sätt att se på saker är inte alltid detsamma som en vuxens sätt att se på det.
Många kramar med hopp om snart återseende
Haha! Underbar tolkning! :-)
Hörlitg med barns sätt att se världen.
Och vad bra att du verkligen försöker få henne att förstå att olika människor kan tycka, tro och tänka olika utan att någon för den skull behöver ha "fel".
Kramar!
Jag tycker ofta att det kan bli lite för mycket påtvingad religion här i USA, speciellt här i södern... Tycker att man ska få bilda sin egen uppfattning!
Post a Comment