Reading Time: 4 minutes Although we can’t predict the future in detail, there are large-scale trends that make me hopeful. The blossoming of renewable energy is one of these. Let’s discuss another. Overpopulation is a common fear among those who predict catastrophe. They point to the exponential growth of humanity in the 20th century, from 1.6 billion people to […]
Parenting & Family
Exploring the world of family and parenting from a secular, nonreligious perspective.
Posted inParenting & Family
How do we explain gun violence to our kids?
Reading Time: 3 minutes How do we strike a balance between honesty and shielding when we discuss Sunday’s mass shooting in Buffalo?
Posted inReproductive rights
How to discuss the overturning of Roe v. Wade with our kids
Reading Time: 4 minutes We’ve heard about the SCOTUS decision. Changes to abortion laws are coming. Now it’s time to discuss it with our kids. Here’s how.
Posted inParenting & Family
For which it stands
Reading Time: 8 minutes My son, now 5 years old, was chosen to lead his school in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. As an atheist and a parent, I have mixed feelings about this—especially when he asked me what “under God” means. Why I let him do it despite my misgivings, and how to use the Pledge as a teaching moment in secular parenting philosophy.
Posted inParenting & Family
Parenting a precocious child
Reading Time: 3 minutes She was savvy even as a toddler, with apt facial expressions to match—the knitted brow, narrowed eyes, faraway gaze, puckish grin, chin in hand. When she was three, I asked her to her face if she was the Buddha. She demurred. And so it went through years of parenting a socially astute, logically shrewd child. […]
Posted inParenting & Family
Finding Nemo, belly up
Reading Time: 3 minutes There’ve been three deaths in our immediate family in the past 48 hours. Wait, lemme go downstairs and check. Okay, four. Squishy, Squirmy, Stripey, and now—uh, another one—were found one at a time, white-eyed and motionless, in our new aquarium. They were tiger barb fish. Now they’re not. Yes, we took all appropriate steps in […]
Posted inParenting & Family
An Alabama couple can’t adopt a child because they’re non-religious
Reading Time: 3 minutes Alaina Browning is everything a new mother would want if she’s considering giving up her child for adoption. Browning, who’s 30, and her husband have a stable income and a nice home, and they’ve been foster parents in the past. They have a five-year-old daughter and they could conceive again if they wanted to, but […]
Posted inParenting & Family
You don’t have to ‘be fruitful and multiply’: More Americans having just one child
Reading Time: 7 minutes For much of history, “only children” were rare. Whether due to religious traditions, lack of birth control, cultural norms, or the simple need for manual labor, women commonly gave birth to numerous children. Having multiples also offset the common childhood deaths resulting from harsh conditions of life. In 1800, American women typically had seven to […]
Posted inParenting & Family
An Easter horror story
Reading Time: 2 minutes As a little kid, I was not allowed to watch horror movies. In the early 80s, they were all the rage. Such masterpieces like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th were favorites of my older siblings. And they knew that because I was prone to nightmares, my mother didn’t want me watching […]
Posted inCulture
A gentle reminder
Reading Time: 9 minutes I can never figure out if I’m an atheist, or agnostic. It’s a silly struggle I have whenever something hits me right in the soul.