I agree with the people here who express a little caution about making it too big a deal to be specifically with a group of atheist kids. The age where religious issues become important and the peer pressure that goes with all that varies between individuals and between regions. For pre-teens and teens it might be a welcome sanctuary from their other social circles. They tend to invent their own groups and so parents should work with them on the design of a social forum for them.

I expect that such resources are the rarest where they are the most needed, such as in the Bible belt. You may have to build your own. The first thing to do is to break through your isolation and somehow find like-minded parents in your area.

I think it is laughable that someone wrote that church youth groups “teach tolerance” in any way!

It’s a hard thing to teach. My guess is that interacting with people who are different is the best way to “teach” it. In our UU congregation there are several kids and adults with various disabilities, and several familes with same-sex parents, and a few transgendered people, and two Japanese-American women who were incarcerated in camps in the US during WW2, and my son comes in contact with these people, while having a great time. Tolerance isn’t the reason I take him there, but it has turned out to be a nice side benefit.

Elsa said,
The Boy Scouts, however, are not so tolerant towards secularism, I hear, so be careful.

My boy is in the cub scouts and there is quite a bit of religious stuff they have to do. Of course they recite the pledge at every meeting (“…under God”) and they have a bunch of mandatory religion-related requirements for badge advancement. There are also these extra “God and country” programs that are encouraged. My son and I sat through one such program (along with all the others in our den) to get a religion pen. One of the other kids (I’m sure from a religious family) asked where God came from in the seminar… Classic.

Anyway, if you do join scouting, be prepared to either deal with lots of religion or kind of fake your way through it. It is almost like being in the military “Don’t ask, don’t tell”.

Justanotheratheist said,
Well, as a recovering Catholic, I can definitely tell you to avoid CCD or Catholic Youth Groups. It’s a wierd mix of Catholic piety and indoctrination during the day and secret hedonism at night. My first exposures to drugs, alcohol and naked girls were on Catholic Youth Group retreats in Jr. and Sr. high school.

My 4th grader is going to have sex education in school coming up. I was going to get my old copy of Gray’s Anatomy or Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy out to help explain things. But maybe I should simply have him go on a Catholic retreat to learn the essentials first hand! Since he is only 10, I wouldn’t have to worry about him getting anyone pregnant!

The Boy Scouts, however, are not so tolerant towards secularism, I hear, so be careful.

I think it is laughable that someone wrote that church youth groups “teach tolerance” in any way! HA!…as far as teaching tolerance, the only thing I’ve ever heard church people say is that their way is the right way and they need to convert everyone else – not very tolerant.

Lisa, I realize that you had a bad experience (which may even be typical and representative), but there are a lot of different churches in this world. Speaking as a current atheist and a former believer who studies religion and who has experienced dozens of different denominations, I can say that at least a handful (including the UUs) are generally affirming, tolerant and do not proselytize. Others are definitely high pressure, cliquish, petty, and intolerant. There is quite a spectrum out there.

We had our son in Boy Scouts for a while, and we all hated the religious and militaristic influences in it (the national council is dominated by Catholics and Mormons, and discriminates against gays and atheists). My daughter had a much better time in Girl Scouts, which is much more tolerant and affirming.

http://www.spiralscouts.org/