To God or not to God

We have received something from the school.  It is a letter asking us to select our preferred method of religious instruction at school.  I am stumped.  I really have no idea what I want.  Actually I know what I want but I am not sure that it is achievable.  Here are my options:

Option 1: The Non-denominational Combined Churches Program - With a focus on both Old and New Testament.

Option 2: The Baha'i Program - The students learn about the role they can play in bringing about peace.  They study the spiritual laws common to all religions and learn about basic human virtues.

Option 3: Students not participating in either of the above programs will do classroom work under the supervision of a teacher. 

I am swaying toward Option 2, because it is closest to what I want and I am less afraid of the teachers.  I will have to say that I am unsure of the option 1 teachers.  I am afraid that some well meaning but generally clueless teacher tries to teach Levi the nastier parts of the Christian religion.  I don't want him being taught to hate his uncle because he happened to be born gay.  I don't want him spouting off the nonsense that he brings home at the moment (from another child - same one every time) about how he is going to Hell because he doesn't go to church.  I am afraid of the people who are teaching that child.  I don't want them teaching my child!

I still want Levi to learn about religion.  I want him to learn honour and morals, but I think that it is possible (however unlikely) to learn that from me.  It would be fabulous if he could learn the beauty of all the religions, rather than the Hell and Brimstone stuff.  I have always wanted for him to have the tools to make up his own mind.  I can provide some of those tools but I also strongly believe that they shouldn't all come from me.  I don't want him to believe what I believe by default as so many children do.  I am happy if he chooses something different, so long as he chooses and it is a reasoned decision made with full disclosure. 

So that is my dilemma for the night! 

Sports Day and Vampires

Today was Sports Day and I was able to get lunch off to go and watch.  He was thrilled that I was there but it didn't help his competitive spirit at all.  He spent the whole time trying to kick off his shoes rather than trying to run fast, so you can imagine how well he did in the races!  Yep, About that well!!  At least he had fun!!  The kids all flowed in a chaos that was moderately organized and there were War Cries that were yelled and lots of happy kids all in beautiful sunshine.  Frankly none of the kids in Grade1 really paid attention to the winners and losers.  They ran relays until they were tired.  They passed batons, lost hats and yelled and screamed.  It was fun to watch them all.  It was also fun to watch the parents, who were happy to cheer for any child, not just their own.  All the kids would run down the track (not always their own) and smile happily at anyone cheering for them! 

Then I was supposed to go back to work.  Levi lost it and cried and begged me to take him home.  I decided that it was just too big to fight.  He is so tired and the kids will do very little in the afternoon after Sports Day!  I can work from home.  It is one of the biggest advantage of this job.  I told him that if he came home he would have to play outside because I would be on the computer.  He was OK with that and he happily did exactly that.  His energy level is so low that it is not worth fighting!  One more day!

Tonight Levi was talking about death again.  I am not sure why he goes there but I am happy to let him go most of the time.  It was a hard day for me to be talking about it, because a girl from work had asked me about Frankie on a drive in the morning.  I have learned not to cry when I talk about Frankie for the first time.  If you do it stops people asking about him and that is not fair, to him, to me or to Levi!

Anyway he said;

"Will you love me after you die?"

I said;

"I will be looking over you and loving you all the time, no matter whether I am alive or dead"

He said;

"You will be in heaven with all the people except the people who kill themselves.  They will all be down with the vampires!"

Then he and I had a big discussion about what I believed about Heaven and Hell.  I said that I thought that anyone who had such a hard life or hurt so badly that they needed to kill themselves would need some peace after they died, so I thought it wouldn't be fair to punish them again.  Levi agreed with me but he was stressed.  His little mate Owen obviously goes to a very rigid church and as he is the only one being given the words, the kids all believe him.  Levi wanted to know what to tell Owen.  I told him;

"My Mum and I don't believe that, but it is OK for you to believe that"

I don't know how to give Levi as much information as possible, without making him make my decision on religion.  I really want him to have the freedom to make his own decision but don't want his only information to come from other indoctrinated 6 year olds.  I might not know much, but I am pretty sure that none of the major religions have vampires involved!!