My son read an article about Mother Teresa that said she was a fraud

[SouthernApril]

My son read this article by the huffington post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/0 ... 05697.html

He didn't talk to me about it for over a week but I noticed something strange about him. He was also less enthused to go to Church this past Sunday. He finally tells me that this isn't the first article hes read that has 'disproved' certain aspects of religion or Christianity. How do I stop him from reading things like this? How do I convince him otherrwise?

[elliemaejune]

This will be a good lesson for your son to learn: that he can never, ever depend on a secular news source to publish articles on religious topics that are truthful.

The Catholic Church has named Mother Teresa a saint. The Church never does such a thing lightly. If your son wants to know anything about St. Teresa of Calcutta, he should read things written by people who are faithful.

[projectcool]

Hi. I just wonder how your son is now. I hope he got over what he read.

[koltonblue]

Just remind him that if he is uncertain and confused with what he reads, open it up to you and have a discussion.

[November_SSN]

If your son's questioning religion and his faith, it may well mean that he never really did believe in it at first : both my family and my wife's lived in communist countries for decades, where attending school was mandatory, and militant atheism was a huge part of the curriculum. The children who did have faith went to church anyways, the ones who didn't simply went along with the agenda. I went both to the Communist school and to church, I was even baptised and still took part in youth movements.

Now you're ahead of tricky times ; attempts to bring your son "back to the faith" might be seen from his eyes as Dark Ages fanaticism, as violent proselytism, and as you disregarding him and his ideas. I'm not saying he's right or that you should let him do as he wished, but any attempt to "correct" this may well backfire in the wrong direction and reinforce his beliefs.

Why do I say that? Because that's how politics worked in Yugoslavia and the USSR, the more you react in a repressive/authoritarian way when your faith (in God for you, in the Party for the communists) is criticised, the more it will cast a shadow of doubt over what you say and your authority.