I sent my kids to a protestant church for pre-school 3 years apiece. it worked with my and ex's schedule, was cost effective, and i am not afraid of religion. it makes no sense and i reasoned i would win if they really wanted to join the cult because of the pre-school syllabus. i was raised catholic, non-believer prior to my hollow confirmation. i was made to attend until i turned 16. mom cried when i refused to attend christmas mass a few times while in college. what can i say, i'm an asshole.

my point is, like many other's here is offer facts. religion just doesn't hold up against them.

once, my eldest age 4 was singing a song from the pre-school at the dinner table. "craaaaaaaaazeeeee da lore"

i said sweetie, are you sure they weren't singing "praaaaaaaayeeeeeez the lord?"

"nope" followed by "it was craaaaaaaaazeeeee da lore." in song again.

both kids, now 12 and 15, are heathens like their parent's in spite of the indoctrination.

Ask the the same questions you would ask an adult just simpler terms. Then give them facts. Best question i have is which god do you think we should worsh? Since there are over 42,000 gods that are documented and which one is right? Also i add things like thiers favorite cartoon is Dora the explorer real? Characters in any story are is reala god in the bible stories

It only took me seeing two blantant contradictions in the bible to know that it was fake (and then I couldn't stop finding them..hundreds and hundreds more), not to mention the verses were it has god doing all the evil, creating evil, devising evil, speaking evil, sending forth evil spirits, having evil thoughts, as well as smoke coming out of his nostrils, fire coming out of his mouth, and horns! Unfortunately I was many decades old before i realized these things, as they don't teach these bible verses in church...

Embrace their why and encourage them to visit libraries and if they're too young take them to libraries and show them to relevant sites if you don't have an answer on hand. You mind end up learn something new yourself. Tell them to write down what they want rather than just wish for it. You want to be an astronaut, get fit and know math, sailing navigational math. Religion has lots of parts to it but most of what is attributed to it is culture. Teach them to think critically and be chill if the information is a bit of an overload. The same kids willing to accept some random god are just as likely to understand really interesting things about the brain like how putting pressure on some areas can cause religious visions (or as we would call them really convincing hallucination). There is more to learn about your gut than surface level religion. Teach them that to some people questioning their religion is like beating up a friend right in front of them. If you have any questions that people don't want to answer or hostile with write them down and find out later.
There is lot of methods. Just with anything think critically and it's okay to not know something, anyone can be wrong but that doesn't make them or you bad and if you really want to know something ask.

Give your kids factual information about many religions, emphasize that this is all belief. No one can prove anything but this is what Muslims/Christians/Scientologists/etc thinks about X. And they are all equally convinced with an equal amount of evidence to work with.

One of the most important lessons a child can learn is that adults are capable of both lying and being wrong. Which makes a good foundation for critical thinking.

One thing I can tell you, the lies I was told as a child backfired big time once I began to think for myself. It began to seem as if there was a worldwide conspiracy by adults to deceive us "for our own good" and in order to "make us happy." And then it became apparent to me that by deceiving us, they were also deceiving themselves. But, after years of soaking up these falsehoods it can take years, if ever, to untangle the roots of deception. And, of course, once you realize how much you have been deceived, what do you suppose happens to trust?

I ask my kid a lot of questions and help them figure things out. "What did you hear?" "What do you think about that?" "Does it make sense to you?" "What do you think the consequences would be if you did that?" Kids know what's right better than adults do most of the time. You just need to help them think it through.

I remember my daughter replying to one of her friends that she is "home churched" which satisfied her friend and deflected the accusation that we didn't go to church.

One neighbor parent, who knew we didn't go to church, took my small children aside and told them that we (their parents) were lying to them, and that there is a god and Jesus loves them, and they should love Jesus too, if they didn't want to go to Hell.

I had already had a conversation with my kids when they were about 5 years old, before any questions came up, since I knew they would. I let them know that some of our friends and relatives believe there is a god who created everything and makes everything happen, but that some of us believe the scientific reason things happen.

I made sure they understood that we love all our friends and relatives no matter which way they believe, and hopefully they will love us too, even if we think different things.

Well, I had it easier than most because mine asked, "Jebus is fake, right?"

All I had to say was "yes".

I think kids should be taught about religions and other myths, but they need to be taught also how to tell the difference between what's real, and what's imaginary. Teach them how to use evidence to tell the difference.

My motto is "tell the truth." And I don't mean to make simple pronouncements of the truth as I see it. I've had long conversations with my kid early on about the fact that there are a lot of people who believe in various gods and myth. When she asked me what I "believe" I told her the truth, that I "believe" people should figure things out rather than taking the easy way out by resorting to faith. That she needs to figure this out for herself eventually on her own. That I do not believe in gods or myths.

I remember her telling me when she was 10 that she believed that a god existed, but not necessarily the Christian God. Now she identifies as an agnostic. I am proud that she seems to be making her own way through this mess of faith and beliefs.

I like the idea of introducing many mythologies and religious ideas.

Just like you had to admit Santa was a lie, you need to admit gods are fantasies too....

It is a great opportunity to start teaching them about reason and scientifically approaching subjects. When I talked to my kids, I never told them there was no god. I taught them to reason out the truth with facts and research. They came to their own conclusion. Remarkably it was the same as mine!

That's a difficult one that I've given a lot of thought to over a lot of years. There's way smarter people here that can give way better thoughts, but I will throw mine out there because it was asked for. I'm also baked and possibly on a sugar high. ?

I think it's good to talk to them about the many different kinds of things people believe and treat it as no big deal that they do. It's just natural that people believe different things is the attitude I hopefully convey to them. If they ask about you, answer without overloading them. Kind of a 'meh I think ... " You know how to do that because you're their parent. You have the facts on your side.
They're going to get enough misinformation and lies coming at them from all the attempts at religious indoctrination coming in the near future.

Whoa. Overshared.

Sorry. Peace. ✌

Five years old...thats probably going to be tough...religious people are relentless when trying to suck in children. I would want to determine who is involving him in these conversations. If its just other kids, a "we just don't believe the way they do", will probably do......if its adults....I would make sure that is stopped NOW!! And some five year olds git it better than others. So good luck.

Say you were a Christian family. What would you say if they asked about Allah? Or buddha?