The folks at ScienceBlogs.com have put up a great flowchart to help one decide which religion to follow. It’s pretty hilarious.

[Via AbsurdIntellectual.com]

A conversation from this morning:

Me: Wanna get some bagels at Einstein Brothers’?
Leo: You know, Einstein is dead.
Me: Really? That’s too bad. What happened to him?
Leo: People don’t survive for a very long time.
Me: Oh, I see. You’re saying that he lived a long time ago, and he got old and died.
Leo: That’s why when I’m adult, I’m going to make Happy Planet/Mad Planet/Sad Planet*. On Happy Planet/Mad Planet/Sad Planet people don’t die because they have the perfect conditions for humans to survive.
Nico: But Earth has the perfect conditions for humans to survive, and people still get old and die.
Leo: But on Happy Planet/Mad Planet/Sad Planet people don’t get old.

* Leo invented three planets: one where he sends people he likes, and two others where he banishes the people who are mean to him.

Dale McGowan is there for us freethinking parents. He has two books on the topic of raising children in nonreligious households: Parenting Beyond Belief, the “first comprehensive book for nonreligious parents”, which includes a collection of essays by Julia Sweeney, Richard Dawkins, Penn Jillette and others, and Raising Freethinkers, which is a practical guide to parenting beyond belief, which includes activities and resources for the actual hands-on aspects of the subject.  He also has a blog, The Meming of Life, which gives freethinking parents continuous support, with short articles and funny anecdotes.

In addition to these resources, » Continue reading “Parenting Beyond Belief Channel on YouTube”

I was horrified by the murder of George Tiller. I just Googled to find an update on the case, and the second entry that came up was Wikipedia.  Something about seeing the first sentence really got me.

George Richard Tiller, MD (August 8, 1941 – May 31, 2009) was a physician from Wichita, Kansas.

Was.

Just terrible news.  I don’t have much to say about it beyond that.  Seems like a piece of news that belongs here.

I’m sure we’ve all seen this study or at least have heard about it by now. It seems to me that all moms are talking about this in some form, and it’s scaring several moms I know.

A recent study showed that children who spend more time in daycare than their non-daycare-attending counterparts tended to act out more by the time they reached kindergarten. (The newscast below says, “went to school,” so I’m assuming that’s kindergarten, but I suppose it could be pre-school.) And apparently, researchers found that the quality of the facility and those who supervise doesn’t matter—it’s the length of time kids spend in daycare that may affect behavior.

What do you think, readers? Have you seen any difference in children you know? Would you attribute the length of time these children spend in a daycare facility or at home to be the primary reason for any major behavioral differences?

By the way, if you can find the text of the study itself, let me know. I did a quick search and came up empty-handed.

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”

Updated to add: This wasn’t clear enough in the original post, below, but we did know he would get religious content at the Lutheran preschool we chose.  (We’ve been listening to the bible verses he has been memorizing all year long.)  The main issue in this case comes not from the mere existence of the religious content, but my concern that  the teacher had gone too far by directly contradicting me in something I taught him, and my surprise to discover that this particular church believes in YEC. Rest assured, LSB is loved and cared for at his school, is being taught his letters and shapes, and other than this incident we have been absolutely happy with the teacher and the school, and with the exposure he has gotten to Christianity.

Here’s some background for you: Little Skeptic Boy is five, has four wiggly teeth, and wants Hulk Smash Hands for Christmas. He loves science, as do I, so the other day we had a detailed discussion about the big bang. Next year he starts public school kindergarten, but for now he attends one of the highest-rated preschools in the area, that just happens to be at a Lutheran church in the bible belt. Then today we had this conversation:

Little Skeptic Boy: My teacher said it, but she’s wrong!! » Continue reading “To change preschools or not to change preschools, that’s, well you know…”

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”

It’s true that kids are born atheists. In my experience so far, there’s no point when religion naturally comes up (in a child’s development) unless the parents or the community force the issue.

There’s a certain bliss in allowing my kids to remain ignorant of the existence of religion, but they’re going to hear about it from their friends eventually. And I’ve read lots of personal accounts of people whose parents just never really taught them anything about religion either way. Some of these folks — when they finally encounter religion — are astonished to discover that people can really believe such stories are true and real. Others are enchanted by religion (or other woo ) when they first encounter it as teen or adult. So, ultimately, I feel like it’s something I should talk to my kids about in the home.

So far I haven’t fared so well. We taught them a little about their Catholic heritage while visiting their great aunt, a nun, in Lourdes, but (as you’ll see if you read that story ), I balked when faced with trying to explain Jesus to them. More recently, I expected the subject would come up while visiting my own Mormon and Christian family this past summer, but it didn’t. On some level, our situation seems more ideal than Laurie T.’s (where religion comes up in school ), but, on the other hand, it sounds nice to have some natural context (like in Laurie T and LSG’s case ) for the child to bring the subject up.

Anyway, all of that is just background to explain how the subject of Jesus finally came up in our house! » Continue reading “I’ve finally introduced my kids to Jesus!!”

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”