Davi Napolean, a reader, sent this article to us a while ago, and I finally got around to reading it. As a theater person myself, I found it interesting. Enjoy!

And by the way, we really love it when people send us links, although I believe we are all so often busy cleaning up vomit and trying to manage naps that it might take us a while to post them.

So, it’s about 20 years ago, and one of my kids, then around 10, is in Meredith Wilson’s band at the Ann Arbor Civic Theater, learning his instrument through the Think Method. During a rehearsal break, the kids are talking about where they go to church or synagogue. Everyone but my son has something to share. He comes home, upset: “Mama, how come we don’t believe in anything?”

“We do believe in something,” I assure him. “We just don’t believe there’s a God.”

“What do we believe in?” I’ve left him outnumbered and defenseless, and I have to come up with something fast. “We believe in the theater,” I tell him. I might have said we believe in the First Amendment or in the scientific method, which would have been true, too.

Dale McGowan’s fundraiser ends today for Foundation Beyond Belief..

It’s tough to keep up with blogging sometimes, especially after a nice, long vacation during which I kinda’ stayed off the Internets.  So this one caught me off guard.  Seems like a great cause that many of us should support.  Even though many of us are broke these days.  But I think I will give a little before the deadline is up.

It’s an exciting day for secular parenting! In Britain, Richard Dawkins is helping to launch the first summer camp for non-believers.

Richard Dawkins is subsidising the camp which will offer children aged eight to 17 the chance to sing along to John Lennon’s Imagine and have lessons in evolution.

The five-day camp, based in Somerset, promises to be ‘beyond belief’ – the event’s motto – and will rival traditional faith-based breaks run by the Scouts and church groups.

It’s great to have this option for children. It’s another place that can help teach our kids, according to Dawkins, to “think for themselves sceptically and rationally.”

Skepdad compiled a fantastic list of blogs, book recommendations, and other links:

These are sites I read, books I reference, documents I consult, or information I find otherwise useful and interesting. I’ve put it here specifically to be a central hub of information (hopefully useful for others) for all things skeptical, science, parenting, educational, or otherwise tangential to that.

Check it out.  You will be reading for days and days.

This is cool.

So it turns out secular folks maybe don’t give as much to charity as religious folks.  And maybe it’s not because we aren’t generous.  It’s just that there’s not a systematic way to give.  So Dale McGowan, author of Parenting Beyond Belief is starting Foundation Beyond Belief, along with Friendly Atheist Hemant Mehta (who has linked to us a whole lot, which is damn nice), and some other folks.

Foundation Beyond Belief is a new 501c3 charitable and educational foundation created (1) to focus, encourage and demonstrate humanistic generosity, and (2) to support a nationwide nonreligious parent education program.

Right now the Foundation isn’t quite up and running, but I just joined the cause on Facebook, and you can too by clicking here!

Or you can get on an email list and receive updates by clicking here.

» Continue reading “Foundation Beyond Belief”

It was like any other Sunday in the South. Traffic picked up at 8, cleared out by 9, and by 10 there was more traffic. People were either leaving their homes to go to church, church to go home, to the local restaurant, or out to Wal-Mart.

Yes, Wal-Mart—every recession-affected person has been there at least once this week, I guarantee you, and we, as a family, are no exception. We were there for, I think, ice cream and diapers, and ended up with a cartful of items that gave us a receipt of $180.00 and looks of bewilderment. Where the hell did all that money go?

In this bewildered state, we didn’t notice the woman barreling toward us, a look of ecstasy on her face, a lightness in her step. She stopped right in front of us, making us stop, and we were in shock at what happened next.

» Continue reading “All I Wanted Was Ice Cream”

Yep, we’ve been listening to tons of Christmas carols around here, especially of the Sufjan Stevens variety. Man, the guy can sing some pretty songs. And of course, they are super religious.

I feel better about the carols than I do about Santa, actually. Unlike a lot of atheists, I didn’t have to reject religion or ever come to terms with the idea that Jesus might not be an actual historical figure. My dad is a staunch atheist, and so was his dad. » Continue reading “The Christmas Carol Thing”

Of course we’re telling our kid there’s a Santa. We don’t have to really deal with it this year, because he’s only six months old. But yeah, we’re on the Santa bandwagon. And it’s a little weird, because we’re telling him some pretty irrational things for parents who consider themselves rational. Yep, there’s a guy who flies around the whole world in one night–well, you know the drill. » Continue reading “The Santa Thing”

LSG: “That’s pretty music!”

Me: “Yes, it’s from the bells in that church.”

LSG: “Mommy, do we not go to church because there are no churches around here that teach what we believe, or do we not go to church because there are no churches that teach what we believe?”

Me: “I guess the answer to that is that no church teaches what Daddy and I believe. There are many, many different kinds of churches in the world, and they all teach different things. My question is, which is right? And who am I to say which is right? The one thing most of them have in common is they teach that there is a supernatural being who has power over this world and the people in it. I decided a long time ago that I don’t believe there is a supernatural being who has power over the world. I believe the world is explained by science, and I don’t need to explain what I don’t understand by claiming it is because of a supernatural being. But Daddy and I want you to learn as much as you can and decide for yourself when you get older what it is you believe.”

LSG: “Yeah, because I remember learning in preschool that God used to talk to Moses and Noah all the time, but now you can only talk to God through prayer, and He never answers you out loud. And I thought, that doesn’t make any sense!”

I’m in my third trimester. I have an obsession with the divine combination of chocolate and peanut butter, no ankles, and breasts that would make the ladies in National Geographic envious.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I was elated. My husband and I tried for about 6 months before the baby-making miracle finally occurred. However, looking down at the double pink lines was not as joyous as I had envisioned. I was actually somewhat nervous.

No. I was really nervous.

I grew up in Pennsylvania in a very—and I mean very—Catholic family. I was raised Catholic, baptized Catholic, received all the sacraments, went to Catholic school, attended CCD classes, and I attended church every week—twice—until I was 18.

I moved to South Carolina about 2 and a half years ago to further my career. I now live on the Buckle of the Bible Belt in Upstate SC, home to the most churches and dive bars in the tri-state area.

Oh, and I’m an atheist. So’s my husband.

» Continue reading “Pregnant on the Buckle of the Bible Belt”