Image: Pixabay Ever wonder why you can be told you are loved, by your parents, your teachers, and ministers from the pulpit, and not ever feel loved? Why do fundamentalist Christians tell others they love, love, love, but all it ever feels like is they hate, hate, hate? What is the disconnect between their words and the way their intentions are perceived? To feel loved is such a luxury, and it has taken me decades of life to pinpoint those... Read more
“I have the right to ask questions and get honest answers.” This is the perfect antidote to fundamentalist parenting. Along with, “I have the right to think my own thoughts and believe my own beliefs.” My friend Joy Neal recorded a video with her six year old son, Anders, reciting this list of human rights, adapted into kid language by Joy Berry in her book, Understanding My Human Rights, along with pictures her son drew to represent his rights. Here’s... Read more
Doubt is an important part of faith. That may sound contradictory, but it is true. Faith is “hope for things unseen.” We cannot see or know everything, but we hope nonetheless. That is the basis of faith. There is always an element of uncertainty. Part of faith is becoming comfortable with that element of uncertainty. Part of faith is saying, “I do not know for sure, I might not ever know for sure, and that is okay.” When we pretend... Read more
These are perilous times when the President of America is inciting a deep mistrust of media and dismissing truth and facts “ascertainable through honest, open-minded and diligent reporting.” He is exploiting an existing trend in which celebrity culture, strongman ideology, social/commercial media, and anti-intellectualism conflate to create an alternative reality with alternative facts. Facts and falsehoods blur through the filter of internet echo chambers, and propaganda become as legitimate as discernible facts as long it is entertaining and popular enough.... Read more
Image provided by: Ashley Lorraine Boccuti In these past couple weeks I have marched, I have picketed, I have written and called my representatives unlike ever before. Clearly, I’m not the only one. I’ve gotten emails from a number of people wondering how to turn their activism into a sustainable family activity, how to turn their acts of protest into continued good for their communities, and how to keep up energy for the long haul. I have been involved with community... Read more
The following is an excerpt from my upcoming book on child liberation theology. “Children’s lives — how they are treated, the quality of their lives — indexes how far Israel is from embodying God’s will. The fate of the children, the orphans in particular, is a barometer that indicates how far Israel is from keeping the Torah, from living as God would have them live.” ~ Jacqueline E. Lapsley[i] We live today in a world that does not value children... Read more
Image: Pixabay I was lost, and then I was found. And then I was lost again. I have come to view my spiritual path not as a one-time conversion experience of being “saved” but walking an off-beaten path of wandering, trespassing the path briefly before wandering off again. I was saved. But I am being saved still, again and again. The more I delve into the work of unfundamentalist parenting, the more I am convinced that those of us parents... Read more
Image: Pixabay Deconstructing can be emotionally, spiritually and intellectually draining. Add that into the work of parenting and all of those emotions can be quadrupled. In addition to dealing with their own spiritual “stuff,” parents are worried about how their faith changes will affect their children. They’re concerned about providing some kind of spiritual consistency even while recognizing that they may be making a change in their children’s religious upbringing. Here are 5 ideas for parenting faithfully even in the... Read more
Image: provided by Meggin Ball “Why don’t you stick to talking about parenting? You’re talking about too much political stuff!” I follow a lot of parenting bloggers and sites, and this is a criticism I have often seen pushed back against them and it makes me utterly confused. Parenting IS political. You know how when you get pregnant, all of a sudden you see pregnant people EVERYwhere walking in the malls, on the streets, and on television? Of course, they... Read more
Image provided by Melvin Bray Hi Melvin, welcome to Unfundamentalist Parenting. We are excited to talk to you about your new book BETTER: Waking Up to Who We Could Be! There were so many things I loved about your book, especially the way it relates to the work I do here on Unfundamentalist Parenting. Let’s get right to it: You call yourself a recovering fundamentalist. So am I! Tell us a little bit about your faith trajectory, and how you... Read more
Unfundamentalist Parenting
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