Our children are our responsibillity, and it is incumbent upon us that we should nourish our children with sound islamic knowledge so that they may In Sha' Allah gain an in depth understanding and appreciation of the truth.
Allah Subhana Wa Ta'Ala says in the glorious Qur'an (interpretation of the meaning):
"And I have not created the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone)." {Surah adh-dhaariyat: 56}
Our main purpose is thus to completely submit ourselves to the will of Allah and worship Him and exalt his mention. Our priority should be to educate our children and pray for them so that Allah almighty may ingrain Islam in their soul and mind.
When we are taught to live among people and to conduct business and to spend time with our families this should never be taken out of context. This is a mistake many people unfortunately make. The context is to live among fellow muslims when possible, to practise Islam in an islamic community when possible, to eat together, pray together, to be a vibrant community for as much as Allah aza wajal allows.
In no way or form does not visiting a church mean that we as muslims are not fulfilling our islamic duties. Not visiting a church does not make us muslims closeminded, it does not incapacitate us in any way. Not sending your children on a school trip to a church does not mean the child is losing our on anything vital for his future as a muslim in this world. Surely if this was such a big deal as some people would like us to believe than Allah aza wajal and His beloved prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wassalam would have mentioned it somewhere.
In fact there is a vast body of evidence that it is very much disliked, and in some cases even forbidden to enter churches, synagogues and the likes. When this is makrooh for even the adults, than what are we to make of the children? If a person wants their children to know something about our adversaries they can teach them from the sound knowledge they have gained concerning such topics. You don't send them to a place of temptation, where they can be influenced in the wrong way.
It is important that we educate our children on for instance alcohol consumption, as this poison is forbidden for use in Islam. We can teach our children from the vast sources of knowledge abound in books and on the internet about the negative consequences of consuming alcohol and we can teach them why other people choose to disregard such vital reasons. Does this mean we should send our children on fieldtrips to factories where beer, wine and other such liquor is made? Ofcourse not.
We can give our children the right information concerning other religions and their innovated practises and places of worship where the devil does reside. To do this it is not required that we send our children to such places of inequity and expose them to such haram things.
As for some other side comments I read on this thread about christmas or any other holiday it is haram and nothing short of haram to participate in any way or form in any holiday of the mushriqeen. We have only two Eids (festivals) and a muslim requires no other innovated pagan practises to rejoice over.
I will quote the conlusion at the end of the fatwa issued by the standing commity which states:
" It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (2/115):
If your going to the church is just to show tolerance and lenience, then it is not permissible, but if it is done to call them to Islam and create opportunities for you to do so, and you will not be taking part in their worship and you are not afraid that you may be influenced by their beliefs or customs, then it is permissible. End quote.
See also the answer to question no. 11232.
And Allaah knows best."
It was narrated that Aslam the freed slave of ‘Umar said: When ‘Umar went to Syria, one of the leaders of the Christians made food for him and called him. ‘Umar said: We will not enter your churches because of the images that are in them – meaning the statues. Narrated by ‘Abd al-Razzaaq in al-Musannaf (1/411 and 10/398).