I've never thought it productive arguing with atheists or agnostics about belief and faith or trying to convince of anything. Most people see what you do and ignore whatw you say, which is how it should be. To paraphrase St. Francis, preach the gospel at all times, and don't use words.
There has beem a drop off from Christian churches in recent years, for many reasons. There isn't pressure in society to go to Church as much these days. Some churches are really blowing it so people don't go. And there are other religions that people can practice.
You might think this is a bad thing, but it's actually good. The people in Church are much more committed nowadays. If someone's in the pew next to you, they're likely there because they want to be.
We Catholics have a great evangelizer as Pope now, and he's getting people all over the world revved up about their faith. Many people who have fallen away from the Church are now coming back. And he doesn't spend time arguing with non-believers.
We did bring Taoster into the Church but I think that was primarily because she admired my dad, who was very devout. He never talked to her about religion until she went to the Church and then he would only encourage her to keep going. I think you also influenced her decision in this regard, just by the living example set and not by any particular argument. She always talks about how you take such good care of your kids, even though they're grown adults.
When you have a lamp, you bring it out to shine. You don't hide it. But you also don't need it to talk.
We also brought James into the Church but he really has no choice in the matter. He can barely use the toilet by himself. Eventually he will master that important skill and others necessary to become self-sufficient, and then he will choose for himself his own belief system.
I think I will put this email in the blog I'm doing. My hope is it will be there for James when he wants to know what his Dad thinks about things.
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