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No specific religion here, too. DH is an atheist and I believe in a higher power but we are both not fans of organized religion. Though there's this great Unitarian Universalist church that has a children's program that teaches them about all religions that I'd like her to go to. Our families will probably take her to church and we are fine with that though we both secretly hope she will decide to be like us!

I do not believe in a god, DH is open to the possibility, but is opposed to most organized religion (catholic upbringing left some terrible feeling towards it for him). He does attend a UU church regularly and I volunteer there in the food pantry.

They have a children's studies program where they learn about religions and about being an active conscious member of society. I wouldn't be opposed to DH bringing LOs to it because it doesn't teach any scripture as fact, just as stories with lessons, as any fable. My main issue is not exposing them to bigotry cloaked in scripture or prayer. They will not be attending church with my ILs, ever- or until they're much older and want to on their own. I don't want them hearing that DH & I are going for hell for our beliefs or that they are because they weren't baptized. I really don't want them learning that birth control is wrong, or that people who are gay are evil, or that it is a church's place to support law outside the church. I want them to respect everyone's beliefs, differences, and choices- provided they are not harmful to others.

We're not at all religious. My mom was raised as a Baha'i, and although I really dig some of their principles - reconcile science with religion, believe that ultimately all religions worship the same god, women totally equal with men, no sermonizing, big sense of community - I can't say I believe in a higher power. And it's kind of a cop-out to practice a faith and not believe in God, right?

So although I dig the idea of exposing my LO to the sense of community associated with practicing a religion, I don't know that I can get behind the actual tenants of practicing a religion.

@mrsjazz: @mrs. bird: Interesting to hear of your experiences with UU. Neither DH or I are particularly religious, but I would like to try out our UU church to meet some like-minded souls. I also like the idea of having that community for LO, especially because so much is church-based around here. DH is a bit more skeptical because he never ever went to church (I was raised Catholic so the concept is not as foreign to me).

My husband and I are both agnostic and not fans of organized religion (to say the least). I'm sure we will teach our kids about different religions as they grow up and express curiosity, but as PPs have said, we know that religion is not a necessary part of teaching morality and ethics.

DH and I are not fans of organized religion. He was raised Catholic and felt that their beliefs were forced on him. We won't be baptizing/christening our boys as we don't want to promise to raise them a certain way when we have no intention of doing so.

That being said, we have been interested in the UU setup and their religion education programs. We want our boys to grow up respecting everyone and to have open, inquisitive minds. We want to help them explore the world through knowledge as much as we can!

Hubs was raised Catholic, but has disassociated himself from the Church. I was not raised religious, per se, but when we did attend church, it was always a Lutheran church (that was where we got married).

We have talked about getting involved in a church in order to provide our children with that sense of community, but have struggled with what church to join. We keep meaning to attend a few services at various churches in the area (including a UU, which seems like it really may be a good blending of our 2 belief systems), but haven't gotten around to it yet. Most of all, we want our children to grow up to be conscientious members of society, loving and accepting of all people.

We are not religious and I don't have any strong beliefs about religion in general. It's just not something I ever think about!

@regberadaisy: We had to sit my MIL down and tell her to STOP talking about it, actually. She's a lovely woman, but super religious, and was badgering my DH about our plans for the future for our sons. We had to tell her that it was a personal decision for our little family and that her beliefs, while valid for her, do not apply to us. She took it pretty hard, but has promised to defer to us when it comes to religion for our LOs in the future.

MIL has pushed the idea of church for the reasons of a community support system and a means of teaching morals and values. I get where she's coming from, but we just don't feel the need for either one in order to have our boys grow up with strong moral compasses.

I don't think that a church is the only avenue for that sense of community, but I can see how it would be more convenient. Like I said in my other post, we've always been interested in the UU philosophy, and their religion education programs seem pretty awesome. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it - have to wait for the boys to get here first!

Hubs and I are both agnostic, so that's how we'll be raising our kids. If they end up being religious though, that's fine with us.

I was raised pretty much without religion (my parents were raised Catholic and Jewish) and DH was raised catholic, but he's kind of having a crisis of faith lately. He's realized he really disagrees with a lot of what the church teaches and he's not sure if it's really the right religion for him. We are TTC-ing right now, and he wants our kids to grow up with some type of belief system.

I don't really have much of a belief system, I guess I'm somewhere between Atheist, Agnostic, and Humanist. I would prefer our kids not learn things at Church that go against my beliefs, like that gay marriage is wrong and sinful.

I'm somewhat interested in UU as an alternative, if DH continues to want some sort of religious upbringing. They seem to be the most inclusive and respectful of all sorts of beliefs.

I like some of the cultural stuff about religion, but we're not very dedicated to exposing the girls to it at this point. Maybe we'll take them to a variety of different religious institutions in the future just to teach them about world religions.