I need some advice please

[AlCzervik]

My 10 year old daughter gets a copy of the newspaper everyday in her class, her teacher worked out some deal where every student receives one daily. At first they only looked at the comics and the weather but gradually they started reading a lot of it. She's been reading the front section for the past month or so and she says to me this morning.."Mom I don't believe there is a God, if there is than he's mean, i won't pray to a God that lets this war happen." "God could have stopped them somehow and he didn't."

Now i don't disagree with her opinion, but 10 seems awfully young to already have made up your mind about the existence of God. Any advice would be appreciated. I dont know if I beleive in God anymore either but i haven't expressed that to my daughter.

[Phillycat]

1. I don't know about the God part, but reading the newspaper every

day is inappropriate for a 10-year old child, in my opinion. If you, as her parent, were to sit down and go through the newspaper with her each day, and explain things as you go along, that would be one thing, but I myself (as an adult in my 30's) find reading the newspaper and watching TV news to be an assault on my senses some days. I do it anyway, but I really need to be careful about how much horror I ingest.

I would rethink the school's policy and talk to the teacher about it.

[iamjoy]

2. Sorry, I Agree With Her

I somehow sense this is the wrong way to feel, but I think if there is a God "he" has no control over daily events (almost the same thing as no God) or God is a meanie.

What sort of God would let the pharisees like Falwell and Robertson hold so much sway as to declare the results of this election "God's will"

[skygazer]

3. My opinion, for what it's worth

I don't think ten is too young to figure things out. I was probably about that same age or younger when I came to the same conclusion.

That said, I would chat with your daughter about keeping an open mind on that and other subjects - that it's never a good idea to be so inflexible on something that you can't change your opinion later. I would neither agree nor disagree with her but affirm her right to make her own judgments. And I might point out other positive things that might serve as evidence of the existence of a god and explain that a belief in god is based on faith, not concrete knowledge. But I would certainly let her make her own mind up about it.

But that's me.

edited to add - and I do agree with janesez that reading the paper daily is inappropriate for a ten year old, especially without your supervision.

[AlCzervik]

5. I think thats a good idea, i try not to impose

my opinions on her about political things or world matters, when she asks me things about whats going on i answer her as honestly as i can, or give the info that i know. I told her that we would talk tonight after school.

[flyingfysh]

4. she is ahead of her years

At age 10, she has independently reinvented one of the standard arguments about the existence of God. It would appear that she is exceptionally bright and perceptive.

Encourage her to read widely. Then don't get in her way.

[ohioliberal]

6. Where's The Teaching Process

Is this part of the school curriculum? are any of the other classes in her grade level doing this? I would definately ask her teacher why she is letting them read the paper. How is this helping her? I agree with the others that 10 years old is a bit young to read the paper. This is a personal issue in my opinion and should have been relayed to the parents first with an outline of what they are going to discuss.

Good Luck!

[AlCzervik]

10. It was discussed with us and if you didnt want your child to particpate

they didnt have to. The other 4th grade class is involved as well but i dont know whats going on there. I could have opted out but i didn't, maybe i should have.

[eataTREE]

7. This is called "theodicy" and is one of the basic problems of theology.

Theodicy is, basically, the question your daughter asked: If God is both all-powerful and good, why does He allow so much evil to exist in the world?

Various answers exist; one of the better ones is that the existence of evil is a direct result of the existence of free will. Evil is thus Man's fault and not God's. Whether or not this answer is sufficient is open to debate.

I'm of the opinion that there is no good answer to the question of theodicy, which is one of the reasons I do not believe in the Christian God. So I have to throw in with everyone who agrees with your daughter.

[Mike Nelson]

8. OK -->

I think it's great she is reading the paper! A sign your daughter is very bright. Maybe you could get additional reading material for her? I would explain that the creator allowed for freedom of choice -- which leads to both bad and good choices (war being bad). Remind her adults make mistakes, too. I'll bet she still enjoys being 10 most of the time and doesn't worry too much about world affairs. Encourage that as well as the reading of "grown-up" stuff. Tell her to enjoy being 10 while she can as it's a wonderful, magical time.

[AlCzervik]

12. Yes, she reads lots of stuff, big into Nationial Geographic

and Highlights. She still watches Nick and plays her gameboy. She watches Nick news as well which imo is a good show.

[Squeech]

9. Book of Job

I'm not a believer, but I think Job is the best available answer to any problem of why there is pain and suffering in the world.

But for me, the question of belief turns on whether the omnipotent and omniscient creator really does have the best interests of his creation (not limited to humans) at heart-- balanced against whether consciousness itself is plausible without a spark of the divine. Your mileage may vary.

OTOH, I think a class where students read the newspaper is terrific! Too many Americans are functionally illiterate, let alone informed citizens and critical thinkers. And I don't think 10 is too young. Once you're of age to read, you're going to run into icky stuff, and part of maturity is learning to handle difficult and/or frightening concepts. (When I was 8 years old, I used to read this Red Cross first aid book that was all about weird diseases, and developed a paranoia about plague. But I got over it.)

[meti57b]

11. I think it is a Christian belief ...

that G-d directs the events on earth, takes requests in the form of prayer and intercedes and changes events.

Jews believe that G-d is all powerful and present everywhere, but that he has given free will to humankind and expects us to handle it here and do what is right. "Free will" is a great gift to us but if G-d stepped in to direct events when things go bad, ...that would mean we don't really have free will.

As it regards the war on Iraq, it is totally up to us to do something about it. About all we can do at this point is perhaps protesting in favor of ending the war in an attempt to convince others, and continue to work to elect those who have the qualities that will implement the kind of nation and world that we so earnestly desire.

[Kber]

13. Geez - I had a recent conversation with my 8 yr old on the same topic

and it's a hard one. As an adult, I do believe in god. I also believe in free will - which means we fuck up an awful lot. Bad things happen, and they too often happen to innocents. Even harder than war and murder are the "unexplainables" like a young mother who dies of cancer - who do you blame there?

So here was my best shot - God isn't there to make bad things go away, but is there to help us cope when things go wrong. Any other way would be like showing up for little league practice and being told by the coaches that playing the games aren't actually necessary because someone already decided that the team won the championship. It would be an empty victory. It's the struggle to act with justice and mercy that counts as much as the outcome sometimes.

Now, keep in mind, I'm talking to an 8 year old boy and the discussion gets a lot harder when it's not about baseball but children dieing.

Maybe tell her that it's people doing the harm, not god? Or simply "I don't know." Which, in my case is honest, but painful none the less.

Good luck!