Atheists: What are some good things to introduce my sheltered 8 yr old nephew to

[Pistol Packin' Occulty!]

today? My sister is an evangelical--almost fundamentalist--Christian. How sheltered, you ask? The kid's never seen a Transformer movie or even a Transformer cartoon! Too violent and godless!

-Occulty
OMG! The dinosaur exhibit at the Children's Museum! I totally should have thought of that , with the Jurassic and the Mezozoic and the "hundreds of millions of years ago"!

 

[gan]

visit Charlie's Playhouse
http://www.charliesplayhouse.com/

 

[Brewster]

"If you had to teach a child about God.
Would it not be better to have a God that is in everyone so that all are equal?
Instead of a million different churches telling you who God is and what He loves and hates?
And God and Jesus always hates you unless you join their particular religion.
If we MUST play the God-game." -Brewster

 

[Boris Badenov]

Nature.

Go out and show them just how many forms of life are in one small patch of the back yard.

Edit: The museum is another great idea. Understanding the real world is the best defense against Evangelical religions.

 

[Lightning]

Dinosaurs. Definitely dinosaurs. Any eight-year-old who doesn't know about dinosaurs is seriously deprived. When I was eight, I wanted to be a paleontologist. I would say avoid Transformers--isn't it like PG-13 or something? Too violent for an eight-year-old, anyway. Otherwise I'd suggest Pirates of the Caribbean with the heathen gods and all. But dinosaurs are age-appropriate.

 

[Scully]

Play football with him and take him to see a good current movie. It doesn't matter if there is a lot of action in it as long as he knows it is not real and normal people don't behave like in the movies.

 

[SupaStar]

8 year old's love dinosaurs: time to bring him to a museum.

 

[Phoenix Rising]

The Dark Crystal. That movie was amazing!

Yes to the museum and to a local park to hike and swim and meet other kids. Take him to volunteer at a homeless shelter if you can. Sometimes fundies teach their children to fear anyone not churchy. He needs to know he is part of a larger community that works together and isn't out to destroy his family or his country.

 

[Ash]

Start with The Simpson's, Looney Tunes and Scooby Doo. Then Land before time, Ghostbusters, and Hercules. Go to a museum. Look at dinosaurs, cave men, sabre tooth tigers and the like. An 8 yo probably wont need to go so far as Matrix, but probably would love Star Wars. Good luck.

 

[TattooMom. Word.]

Natural history museum. Word.

 

[Friedrich Nietzsche]

Introduce her to Charles Darwin (the works I mean, he wouldn't be a pretty sight in person right now).

 

[Dilligaf]

It is an interesting and demonstrable fact, that all children are atheists and were religion not inculcated into their minds, they would remain so. But in this case don't get involved.

 

[ska dude]

should probably give him a lot of candy too, good to rot your teeth out. too bad he cant get a tattoo yet...
be sure he sees some real fossils so he can understand how stuff really works

 

[Shinigami (FAC)]

I think that you are actually a very nice man and will get him a sports oriented gift.

because you love him, and you love your sister.

 

[Question Everythingâ„¢]

Skip a crappy movie like Transformers and hit a science museum. Bring him back home with some new ideas about the origins of man.

 

[Up Yours!]

Take him to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, your sister will have an absolute FIT!