In a recent article in Newsweek titled, “Talking to Kids about God,” Kathleen Deveny said that “even when I agree with the church, I’ve discovered I’m just not that comfortable discussing the mysteries of faith” when it came to her children. She explained that oftentimes she wasn’t able to come up with answers to questions like, “Does God have arms?” But even more than that, she said she didn’t want a spiritual emphasis in her daughter’s Sunday School class. It almost sounds like she doesn’t want her child to talk about God at all because she’s not comfortable with it.

Should we be telling our kids about God? Should we be offering explanations to them about the 10 Commandments or what the Quran says about His power or about the covenants he made with the Jews? Or should we run from those discussions because we don’t have all the answers?

More importantly, should we encourage children to seek out answers on their own? If a child is wondering about God, should we encourage them to look into it? Is it like when a child asks the meaning of a word and we say, “Go get a dictionary”? Should we have all the answers for them first? As Deveny said, “Come Ash Wednesday, I will be prepared to explain the dirty smudge on my head. Because I Googled it.” Or should we not be encouraging them to explore any religion at all? Should they not even know what the person next to them in class believes?

What do you think?

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