Why I Want My Daughter to Follow Religion

When I myself don’t follow it anymore

Photo by on

I have an inter-religion marriage. When we got married, the first question our relatives asked was what religion the kids would follow. That wasn’t our priority to decide at the time (or ever, to be honest) but we did plan to expose our kids to religion and let them decide what or if they want to follow any.

But when my daughter was born five years back, we were overwhelmed. Teaching her about religion was not even a thing on our minds.

I’ve always believed in God but we don’t follow any religious practices at home. My daughter was introduced to religion only when her grandparents started visiting us. She saw them following rituals and she started copying them. But that hasn’t become a part of her everyday life yet. And I am constantly debating if I should put any effort into making it a part of her routine.

Faith can teach you to be tolerant in so many ways but it can also make you intolerant in a dangerous way — by giving you a false pride of being the best in comparison to others. That intolerance towards other faiths — openly promoted by some religious preachers — is what scares me away from religion.

My childhood shaped my religious and spiritual beliefs. My family was never strict about any rituals. I…