About Richard Wade

Yesterday was Fathers Day, and I hope that all fathers, daughters, and sons were able to express their love and appreciation for each other. The feelings that fathers have for their children can be very complex and difficult for them to understand and to express clearly.

This letter illustrates this, and shows how important and worthwhile it is for us to work together with our fathers to keep fear, anger, and confusion from blocking the love that should and can flow freely between us.

Note: Letter writers’ names are changed to protect their privacy.

Dear Richard,

Recently, I “came out” to my father as a non-believer. Although I see myself more as an apatheist, since I just don’t care about religion in the first place, I also consider myself an atheist, as I also don’t believe in any religion to be true either. When I did tell my father, I told him I was an “atheist,” since it seemed like the simplest explanation. As a non-denominational, non-churchgoing Christian, I thought my father would take it well, and we’d maybe talk about our differences.

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In recognition of upcoming Mother’s Day, this is the third in a trio of letters I received from three young men who come from Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu backgrounds respectively. Note: Letter writers’ names are changed to protect their privacy. Sir, I am 17 years old and I was raised in an extremely religious Hindu [...]