Please don’t label me!

 

The irony is that the smiling, carefree children on the poster, images sourced from a photography website, are the son and daughter of Brad Mason, drummer for the Christian musician Noel Richards. He says that this shows his children are happy, and that their Christianity shone through, which is what made the images special. The humanists respond, however, that labelling children fails to respect their rights and autonomy.

 

The trouble with the suggestion behind the campaign is that it implies that children are like blank sheets of paper upon which we are imposing our design – sheets of paper which would, but for our interference, remain unsullied until they decide for themselves how to fill them in. Children, as we all know, are more like blotting paper. They absorb what they come into contact with.

 

No Christian parent could help but share the love of God with their child. Not just because we want them to know – and of course we do! – but because if we are living the Christian life then our actions, our words, our life will reflect our belief. It will be the reality the child grows up with and they will, while they are children, know themselves as Christians in the same way they know they are members of our family. To suggest that they remain in a state of non-belonging until they are old enough to make their own decision is a bit like suggesting we refrain from teaching them our language in case they later want to speak another! 

 

And if we do not tell our children about the world, others will. There are plenty of world views competing for their attention. Their friends, school, television – there are many influences shaping the lives of our children. Even if it were possible for us not to shape their views there are plenty of others who would step in to fill the void. 

 

Of course our children do grow up. And for all of them there does come a stage when they re-evaluate the world for themselves and we know all too well that while some of them continue to follow Jesus some of them make other decisions. What they have learned when they were growing – not just what they were told but what they experienced – will be a part of what influences them, but the decision to respond to God’s call is one that each person makes for themselves. For most of us brought up in a Christian household it is not a sudden blinding conversion; we either remain in the Christian faith we were brought up in, making a conscious though often gradual decision to say yes to Jesus’ call, or wander away, deliberately or accidentally. Many who do so will come back later; some, sadly, will not.

 

Belief is something that cannot be imposed on anyone.  Jesus watched in sadness as people he had called walked away from him, drawn by other things. But because he loves us he came to tell us about God in words and in loving deeds. We can and must do no less for our children.