Maria Montessori states that (and I will paraphrase here): Adults who do not believe in a higher power will hold their culture's children to the standard highest in their human imagination. Adults who believe in a benevolent, loving God see something higher, loving and benevolent in the child- a something that is bigger than the adult's imagination. (I will stay the argument that God is merely man's creation, because generally, those who believe in God also believe that we cannot fully know God- the MYSTERY of God is more than us and hence, more than our imagination. This is an admittance that we do not know it all.)
The short version is that *atheistic* adults do not see the light in a child.
To clarify, I am ok with atheism. Most atheist friends I have are passionate humanists. They believe that through the power of human compassion, we can do wonderful things. I believe this too. Its just that I believe that this particular humanist pie is best served for my family with a big scoop of ice cream... the flavor of which is a loving God.
When I was more humanist in my thinking, I did put a lot of pressure on myself and my kids to be the BEST human we could all be. Everything in the world is dependent on the actions of humans if you are a humanist. And that means that either the cruddy stuff is way out of our control and we become complacent, or that the cruddy stuff is our responsibility and we become co-freaking-dependent!
I am still humanist in my thinking. Compassion for others is still a HUGE part of my belief system. But I REALLY like ice cream with my pie. And for every thing that I cannot control (which is quite a lot) I am learning to trust God. I cannot totally explain it. But the relief and inspiration I feel at being ABLE to believe in God's mercy is a life saver.
If I had read Maria Montessori's words 10 years ago, I would have been offended. How can anyone say that another person is less moral without belief in God? One does not need a belief in God to be moral or compassionate. In fact, many people who do not believe in God are more compassionate because they feel the responsibility of the world on their own shoulders.
But, belief in God isnt so much about morality. To me, it is about trust... or the heavily used term: FAITH. To have faith is to extend oneself beyond what one can prove. I have learned to have faith in my life as soon as I learned to admit that I could not control everything. It starts off small and gets bigger. I remember one time I told my friend G that my hope was maturing into faith. In some ways we can *hope* that there is goodness out there... that things will come our alright. Then we look back and realize we got through something and we develop faith.
As hope and faith develop, we can begin to believe in God- the ultimate form of faith, mercy, love and hope. We can have mercy on others, including our children. We can see the child as a true child of God- a human through whom a true, omnicient light may shine- we see the light of God in the child and are willing to treat them as more than a humanistic goal.
The short version is that *atheistic* adults do not see the light in a child.
To clarify, I am ok with atheism. Most atheist friends I have are passionate humanists. They believe that through the power of human compassion, we can do wonderful things. I believe this too. Its just that I believe that this particular humanist pie is best served for my family with a big scoop of ice cream... the flavor of which is a loving God.
When I was more humanist in my thinking, I did put a lot of pressure on myself and my kids to be the BEST human we could all be. Everything in the world is dependent on the actions of humans if you are a humanist. And that means that either the cruddy stuff is way out of our control and we become complacent, or that the cruddy stuff is our responsibility and we become co-freaking-dependent!
I am still humanist in my thinking. Compassion for others is still a HUGE part of my belief system. But I REALLY like ice cream with my pie. And for every thing that I cannot control (which is quite a lot) I am learning to trust God. I cannot totally explain it. But the relief and inspiration I feel at being ABLE to believe in God's mercy is a life saver.
If I had read Maria Montessori's words 10 years ago, I would have been offended. How can anyone say that another person is less moral without belief in God? One does not need a belief in God to be moral or compassionate. In fact, many people who do not believe in God are more compassionate because they feel the responsibility of the world on their own shoulders.
But, belief in God isnt so much about morality. To me, it is about trust... or the heavily used term: FAITH. To have faith is to extend oneself beyond what one can prove. I have learned to have faith in my life as soon as I learned to admit that I could not control everything. It starts off small and gets bigger. I remember one time I told my friend G that my hope was maturing into faith. In some ways we can *hope* that there is goodness out there... that things will come our alright. Then we look back and realize we got through something and we develop faith.
As hope and faith develop, we can begin to believe in God- the ultimate form of faith, mercy, love and hope. We can have mercy on others, including our children. We can see the child as a true child of God- a human through whom a true, omnicient light may shine- we see the light of God in the child and are willing to treat them as more than a humanistic goal.
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