Atheism through the holidays, part 2: What to do about baby Jesus

December 20, 2011 By 7 Comments

My parents homeschooled me in part to “shelter” me – to keep me from what they considered “bad influences.” They carefully monitored what movies we watched, who we were friends with, what we read and learned, and where we went or what we saw. The goal was to raise us to share their beliefs, unadulterated [...]

Filed Under: Atheism Tagged With: , 7 Comments

Atheism through the holidays, part 1: Santa Claus

December 14, 2011 By 21 Comments

When people ask, “but how can you do Christmas without Jesus?” it makes me want to laugh. The other week Sally and I walked through our local mall, and she gave the following monologue:   “Look, Christmas lights! Christmas tree! Look, snow! Presents! Look, more Christmas lights! Look, horse! Look, SANTA CLAUS!!!”   The truth [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Family Tagged With: , 21 Comments

Parenting, Belief, and Expectations

August 21, 2011 By 26 Comments

Today I watched this video. It is a talk at a Secular Student Alliance conference by high school student Jessica Ahlquist. It’s weird, if I had watched this video even five or ten years ago, I would have looked at her and seen myself; I would have seen Jessica on the level of a peer. Today, [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism, Parenting Tagged With: , 26 Comments