We were devoted Christians excitedly driving our kids to hear Richard Dawkins speak.
My kids stared at me from the backseat like I’d suggested we spend the evening at a UFC fight. (I’m a tree-hugging hippie and would never dream of watching actual people fight each other for fun. No, thanks!!)
But we loaded into the car anyway, showed out tickets at the door, and planted ourselves in a room full of people who believed fundamentally differently than we do.
Why would Christians rush to hear the world’s most famous atheist?
Because we want our kids to live without fear.
We want them to hear all sorts of beliefs. To wrestle with deep ideas. To think for themselves instead of inheriting their convictions like hand-me-down clothes that don’t quite fit. We don’t want them absorbing worldviews from TikTok algorithms (not that they’re allowed on TikTok, but as a principle) or parroting whatever they heard last from a persuasive friend.
We want them armed – intellectually, spiritually, and logically – to engage with a world that will absolutely try to convince them of things that aren’t true.
In other words, we want them to think.
Besides, if we actually, truly believe what we say we do, why is it scary for others to have different opinions?
Spoiler alert: It’s not!
And one of my kids proved that night that the investment had already started paying dividends.
Why We Train Them in Swords (If They’re Only Going to Get Dusty in a Corner)
Here’s what happened: Dawkins took the stage. He made his arguments. He appealed to emotion. He was demeaning to college students who asked him genuine questions. And my daughter – sitting there at that event – watched it all with the clarity of someone who had been trained to see it.
She leaned over and whispered: “That’s his best argument? I thought it would be harder than that…”
For Logic!
She could spot the logical fallacies. She could see the appeals to emotion masquerading as reason. She understood that his tone – that intellectual superiority – was actually a rhetorical move, not proof of a stronger position. And because she could see those things, she wasn’t afraid.
Any mystery was gone. In its place: confidence in what she actually believed.
This is what critical thinking does. It takes the veil off.
Most homeschooling culture tells you to protect your kids. Build a fence. Keep them in the bubble. Guard them from dangerous ideas.
However, I’m telling you something different: equip them.
Train them in the swords of logic. Teach them to see emotional appeals. Show them how arguments actually work. Let them practice on ideas – safe ideas, in your home – so that when they encounter real opposition in the world, they’re not shocked. They’re not afraid. They’re ready.
Because here’s the thing about critical thinking – it’s not some abstract academic skill. It’s survival equipment for people who want to stay true to what they believe while engaging honestly with people who believe differently. It’s the antidote to both closed-mindedness and naive gullibility.
Faith is Logical (And Wonder Matters Too)
Before we talk about how to teach critical thinking, we need to talk about why.
Faith is logical. Let that sink in.
Not faith-as-blind-leap. Not faith-as-wishful-thinking. But faith as the most rational response to the evidence of God’s character, God’s Word, God’s redemptive work in history. When you’re teaching your kids to think logically – to follow evidence, to spot emotional manipulation, to question bad reasoning – you’re not undermining faith. You’re building the intellectual foundation for it.
At the same time, critical thinking without wonder is just cynicism wearing a thinking cap.
So let’s set the record straight. Faith is not the opposite of reason. The opposite of faith is unbelief. And reason is not the opposite of faith. The opposite of reason is irrationality. Do some Christians have irrational faith? Sure. Do some skeptics have unreasonable unbelief? You bet. It works both ways. -Greg Koukl
You want to raise kids who can spot a logical fallacy in a Target toy advertisement (yes, our little ones could do this – “They’re trying to appeal to my emotion!” they’d announce in the store). But you also want kids who can look at a starry night and feel genuine awe. Who can read a great story and be swept up in it without immediately dissecting the narrative structure. Who can ask questions without needing answers right away.
This is the scaffolding: logical thinking underneath, with room for wonder and curiosity and genuine pursuit of truth on top. Faith makes sense of it all. Logic is the tool. Wonder is the fuel.
What This Actually Looks Like: The Resources That Work
So how do you actually teach this? Not as a separate subject – “Logic Class on Tuesday!” – but as a living, breathing part of how your family engages with ideas?
Start with Greg Koukl and Stand to Reason University.
If you’re going to learn how to teach critical thinking (and how to model it), Koukl’s work is non-negotiable. His free course “Truth is Not Ice Cream” is the perfect entry point – it’s designed to help teens understand that truth is objective, that not all beliefs are equally valid, and that reasoning matters.
Then move to Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions (10th Anniversary Edition). This book teaches your kids (and you) how to engage respectfully with people who believe differently. It’s not about “winning” arguments. It’s about asking good questions, listening carefully, and understanding what someone actually believes before you try to respond to it. This is the difference between arguing with someone and arguing at them. (There’s also a Tactics Study Guide with Streaming Video if your teen learns better with supplemental material. There are lots of his talks and Tactics overviews on YouTube, but I recommend actually doing the class in order. It’s worth it!)
The Fallacy Detective books give kids concrete practice spotting logical fallacies. The Fallacy Detective: Thirty-Eight Lessons on How to Recognize Bad Reasoning is the workbook – your teen reads scenarios, identifies the fallacy being committed (ad hominem, appeal to emotion, straw man, etc.), and understands why it doesn’t work logically. This is the hands-on training. The practice rounds before the real match.
Pair it with The Thinking Toolbox: Thirty-Five Lessons That Will Build Your Reasoning Skills to deepen the skill. We did it once when our kids were veeery little so they idea seeds would be planted in their brains and once again when they were older, in middle school. They referenced it in high school when they wanted to brush off memories and commit it to heart.
Cold Case for Kids works differently. Cold-Case Christianity for Kids: Investigate Jesus with a Real Detective by J. Warner Wallace presents mysteries where kids have to gather evidence, consider suspects, and follow the logical chain to a conclusion. It’s critical thinking in narrative form – kids are so engaged in solving the mystery that they don’t realize they’re practicing how to evaluate evidence and line up facts logically. By the time they finish, they’ve internalized the process.
(Wallace also has God’s Crime Scene for Kids and Forensic Faith for Kids that build on this framework.) I adore his work and have seen him in person many times. It is never enough – I could listen to him talk all day.
And honestly? Your family conversations are the real classroom.
When your kid comes home and tells you about something a friend said that doesn’t make sense, that’s your moment. “Why doesn’t that make sense to you? What evidence would change your mind? Is that person appealing to your emotions or giving you facts?” These questions – asked with genuine curiosity, not condescension – are how critical thinking becomes native to the way your kid thinks.
One more resource to bookmark: Lee Strobel’s Case for a Creator for Kids combines apologetics with accessible explanations of how evidence supports faith. It’s detective work for the soul.
Oh! And, Natasha Crain talks about lots of ways to engage kids in critical thinking, one of which is using memes. Get a popular meme poking fun of religion and talk about where it is going wrong logically.
Red Pen Logic with the wonderful Tim Barnett is another great way to confidently engage in the culture. You can find his work on YouTube and Instagram.
The Dawkins Effect: What Happens When They’re Ready
My daughter left that event changed. Not shaken in her faith – strengthened by it.
She’d seen the greatest intellectual opponent of Christianity in action, and she’d recognized that his arguments had logical problems. His rhetorical moves were techniques, not truth. His intellectual superiority was a persona, not proof.
All because he has made tons of money and sold millions of books doesn’t mean he is correct.
Because she’d been trained to see those things, she wasn’t afraid of him. She wasn’t defensive. She was… curious. Clear-headed. Confident.
God is bigger than our fears. Jesus can handle our doubts.
I sometimes feel that Christians think that not only must they build protective bubbles around their own kids, but they try to do it about God. Christians feel that if they really looked deeply into the “other side,” that their faith would be weakened.
I ask, do you really believe in Jesus, then???? Honestly?
Confidence is what you’re building toward. Not kids who are so locked in their beliefs that they can’t hear anyone else. Not kids so uncertain that they absorb whatever sounds smartest. But kids who can think, who understand how arguments actually work, who can engage with hard ideas without losing their footing.
We want kids to think on their own two feet. Since God created those two feet, logic inevitable points to Him.
Why do we train them in how to use swords if they’re only going to get dusty in a corner?
We don’t. We equip them for the caves of dragons. We teach them to think so they can navigate a world that’s absolutely full of people trying to convince them of things – some true, some false, most of it wrapped in emotional appeals and rhetorical sleight of hand.
And then we let them go. Not with fear, but with confidence. Not with a closed mind, but with a trained one.
That’s what critical thinking is really for.
Start Here
If you’re ready to begin building this with your family, start with one resource. Go through Truth is Not Ice Cream together, and explore the other STR University courses (they are free!). Get a copy of The Fallacy Detective and work through it with your teen. Pick up Tactics and use it as a conversation starter about how to engage respectfully with people who believe differently.
Most importantly: model it yourself. Let your kids see you change your mind when presented with better evidence. Let them hear you admit when an argument doesn’t hold up. Ask them good questions about what they believe and why.
Critical thinking isn’t a subject. It’s a way of being in the world – one where truth matters, where evidence counts, and where faith and reason aren’t enemies but allies.
And your kids are more ready for it than you might think.
