Anna Faris has begun to open up about one of the struggles she has in coparenting her 14-year-old son, Jack, with her ex-husband, Chris Pratt, which is navigating religious discussions as a non-religious person.
While appearing on Chelsea Handler's podcast, the Scary Movie star admitted that it's been a challenge to balance the two worlds.
Jack has followed in his father's footsteps, pursuing Christianity and even hoping that his mother will one day convert.
"I didn't grow up with religion. He's asked me to accept Jesus Christ... I told him that I would do anything for him, including this, but it's gonna take a whole lot of long conversations."
In the meantime, Faris has not shut down the possibility of converting and also has not shut down her son's beliefs, but she has "challenged" him to think critically about what he's been taught, particularly about pro-life views and megachurches.
"I try to challenge him. I'm like, 'Do you think it's a luxury that you get to be pro-life?' He's like, 'Maybe.'"
"Or I'll say, 'So, what do you think of this mega pastor that's kind of a grifter?' He's like, 'Oh, mega pastors are the worst.' So it's like, 'Okay, we're getting there.'"
"I'm appreciative that he's examining religion the way he is in terms of starting to recognize hypocrisy."
"I'm appreciative that we can have these long conversations."
The conversation was shared on the "Fauxmoi" subReddit, where Redditors applauded Faris for pointing out potentially hypocritical lessons and teaching her son critical thinking skills.
"Honestly, her 'Do you think it’s a luxury that you get to be pro-life?' question is solid as f**k." -ttn616
"D**n. She’s a great mom. Playing the long game, but I wish she didn’t have to. Screw Chris Pratt." -apparentlycompetent
"'Do you think it's a luxury that you get to be pro-life?' Good for her pushing back on right-wing politics." -Relevant-Peach3997
"She is STRONG; dang, this would be so challenging. Never considered what this specific scenario would be like as a non-religious person myself. Hopefully Jack comes around. Chris sucks." -Exciting_Stock_3201
"It's so smart to center the question around him and his privileges. He's a young teen, so that's what matters most to him." -Clewoune21
"As a childless and godless woman, this is my worst nightmare."
"I'm really thinking about it:"
"To go from zero kids, and then suddenly growing a child, risking my life to give birth to him, spending sleepless nights with him, nursing him, sacrificing for him..."
"And then he strolls into the room one day and starts sprouting right-wing and anti-woman rhetoric?"
"Absolute horror show." -Steleve
Fellow Redditors had hope for Jack's future.
"It’s very possible it’s influenced by his dad, but I teach high school and SO many TikTok/Twitter algorithms are alt-right (often AI) slop targeted toward boys in particular."
"I’m a millennial, and it’s worse than Gamergate and more mainstream than 4chan. It’s everywhere, and the point is to radicalize young men into fascism and misogyny. We really need to get our kids offline and away from algorithmic media." -throwawaysunglasses-
"It’s sad that his father might have made him feel like he has to earn approval."
"I imagine that poor boy listens too much to the dad who went away, and it’s probably trying really hard to feel accepted and deserving… but there’s hope, and as a kid who kinda went through it, the pendulum tends to swing to the other side after late teens/early twenties." -dianamaximoff
"All parents should be doing this, imo. Kids need to be taught how to think, not what to think." -Such-Daikon3140
"I have some gripes about my dad (what adult woman doesn’t?), but one of the things for which I’ll always be grateful is that he always asked me, 'Why do you think that?' about my opinions, regardless of whether or not he agreed." -souryoungthing
"Hopefully when he gets towards the end of his teen years he'll start questioning his beliefs more as he sees more of the world. My friend's son was like this too, as she only had him weekdays and holidays."
"I always had a feeling that when he went to uni and experienced life, he would be fine, and he actually grew up into an extremely cool young man, not even a glimmer of the homophobic, Christian conservative shit his dad was peddling." -SnakeLisspkin
People were impressed by Faris's take on the situation and glad that she was listening to and talking with her son, rather than just shutting down his beliefs. One of the most important things to teach a child is critical thinking skills, and then hopefully, they'll be able to make the best decisions for themselves and the people around them.
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