Truth is very important. Your not wanting to lie is good. And edifying.
It is not a question of loop-holes but of the
reality of the Sacrament of Baptism and the need for the child who is baptized to be then raised in the Faith as a Catholic Christian. They have then a right to this. A right to be raised and to live what they have received. So will your children be raised in the Faith if they are baptized? Will they be able to live what they have received? That is a question you can explore with the local Priest.
I would suggest going and having a meeting with the Parish Priest.
Now of course if the child is in danger of death – that is a whole other issue – they can be baptized (Priest can explain). If they survive such a danger then they ought of course to be given the what would be their right --to be raised in the faith. But keep that in mind if such should arise.
I would like to invite you both to explore (even again) the questions of existence.
This next Month (Oct 11) begins the “Year of Faith” -proclaimed such by Pope Benedict XVI – I would like to invite you to once again to come and see – to explore --to seek. And especially to follow the addresses of Pope Benedict XVI during this year.
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/index.htm (you will see I think at the top of
vatican.va/phome_en.htm – “Year of Faith” which will follow his addresses --not sure but that has been the case during various trips etc–save that and come back to it next month and over the next year)
I came into the Church from the outside. I have close family who are “atheist or agnostic” who where very formative on me personally. I do not embrace though their view. I have found instead that
true life is in Jesus of Nazareth as have various former atheists.
So truly wish you great things in life! (and more!) and I hope you will take up my invitation.
I would like to quote a few excerpts from from Pope Benedict XVI if I may…(I know such was not your intent in coming here --but please let me offer just a few short quotes that l find quite profound
):
“We believe in God. This is a fundamental decision on our part. But again the question has to be asked: is this still possible today? Is it reasonable? From the Enlightenment on, science, at least in part, has applied itself to seeking an explanation of the world in which God would be unnecessary. And if this were so, he would also become unnecessary in our lives. But whenever the attempt seemed to be nearing success - inevitably it would become clear: something is missing from the equation! When God is subtracted, something doesn’t add up for man, the world, the whole universe. So we end up with two alternatives. What came first? Creative Reason, the Creator Spirit who makes all things and gives them growth, or Unreason, which, lacking any meaning, yet somehow brings forth a mathematically ordered cosmos, as well as man and his reason. The latter, however, would then be nothing more than a chance result of evolution and thus, in the end, equally meaningless. As Christians, we say: “I believe in God the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth” -I believe in the Creator Spirit. We believe that at the beginning of everything is the eternal Word, with Reason and not Unreason.”
– Pope Benedict XVI (12 Sept 2006 Homily in Regensburg)
“It is not science that redeems man: man is redeemed by love. This applies even in terms of this present world. When someone has the experience of a great love in his life, this is a moment of “redemption” which gives a new meaning to his life. But soon he will also realize that the love bestowed upon him cannot by itself resolve the question of his life. It is a love that remains fragile. It can be destroyed by death. The human being needs unconditional love. He needs the certainty which makes him say: “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38- 39).”…
“Day by day, man experiences many greater or lesser hopes, different in kind according to the different periods of his life. Sometimes one of these hopes may appear to be totally satisfying without any need for other hopes. Young people can have the hope of a great and fully satisfying love; the hope of a certain position in their profession, or of some success that will prove decisive for the rest of their lives. When these hopes are fulfilled, however, it becomes clear that they were not, in reality, the whole. It becomes evident that man has need of a hope that goes further. It becomes clear that only something infinite will suffice for him, something that will always be more than he can ever attain.”…
“…we need the greater and lesser hopes that keep us going day by day. But these are not enough without the great hope, which must surpass everything else. This great hope can only be God, who encompasses the whole of reality and who can bestow upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain. The fact that it comes to us as a gift is actually part of hope. God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety. His Kingdom is not an imaginary hereafter, situated in a future that will never arrive; his Kingdom is present wherever he is loved and wherever his love reaches us. His love alone gives us the possibility of soberly persevering day by day, without ceasing to be spurred on by hope, in a world which by its very nature is imperfect. His love is at the same time our guarantee of the existence of what we only vaguely sense and which nevertheless, in our deepest self, we await: a life that is “truly” life.”
–Pope Benedict XVI Spe Salvi
