Ich höre immer wieder mal das Argument: Meine Kinder sollen “weltanschaulich neutral” aufwachsen (regelmässige Blogleser werden wissen, dass es diese Option für mich gar nicht gibt; in der Regel steht diese Ausdrucksweise synonym für “westeuropäisch-zivilreligiös”). John Piper dazu in einer Predigt:
O how I want the mothers and fathers of our church to be teachers of the Word of God in your homes. So let me try to answer three objections which may come to your mind. First, some might say that parents have no right to prejudice a child regarding what he will accept as true. It is better to leave all religious options open, and then when he chooses one, it will be owing to authentic commitment, not to parental authority. There are four problems with that objection.
1) It goes counter to all the teaching of Scripture that parents are to teach truth about God.
2) It is impossible not to teach children about God, because not to teach them is to teach them plenty. It teaches them that Jesus does not matter much, that Mom and Dad don’t consider him nearly as important or exciting as new furniture, or weekends at the lake, or Dad’s job, or all the other things that fill their conversation. Silence about Christ is dogma. Not to teach the infinite value of Christ is to teach that he is negligible.
3) It is not true that teaching children about God has to make them close-minded and irrationally prejudiced. It might if the parents are insecure and have their own faith built on sand. But if parents see compelling reasons for being a Christian, they will impart these to their children as well. Nobody accuses a parent of prejudicing a child’s cosmology because he tells the child the world is round, and the little stars at night are bigger than the earth, and the sun really stands still while the earth turns. Why? Because we know these things are so and can give evidence to a child eventually that will support this truth. And so it is with those who are persuaded for good reasons that the Christian faith is true.
4) And, fourth, it is simply unloving and cruel not to give a child what he needs most. Since we believe that only by following Christ in the obedience of faith can a child be saved for eternity, escape the torments of hell, and enjoy the delights of heaven, it is unloving and cruel not to teach him the way. When I look at my three sons in love, I say, “O Christ, let me not be delinquent in bringing them with me to glory.”
