Reading Time: 6 minutes I had never met these two little girls before—flesh and blood relatives—but when I did, it was a lot of fun. They were full of energy and cuteness. It was 40 years ago. I was 15. My parents had taken me back East one summer, to the Bronx, to the neighborhood where my father grew […]
family
Posted inCulture
Why I wore a cross necklace as an atheist
Reading Time: 3 minutes By the time I was ten years old, all four of my grandparents had passed, and as the last of six kids, I hadn’t expected any kind of inheritance. What they did leave me were memories and vague ones at that. So I was surprised when on my sixteenth birthday, my mother pulled out a […]
Posted inFilm/TV
Mother-daughter stories are easy. You just have to break the universe
Reading Time: 5 minutes More than ever before, adult children are breaking ties with their parents. Shifting cultural norms and expectations, coupled with increased individualism and awareness of mental health concepts, are prompting children in their 30s to go “limited contact/no contact” with parents, and learn techniques like “gray-rocking” to communicate with parents who trigger emotional breakdowns and irrational […]
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 inComedy
Let’s see your precious ‘Easter Bunny’ rise from the dead!
Reading Time: 3 minutes Hey kids, come on out here! Daddy has a grisly surprise! No, it’s not Grandpa. You know how I’ve been trying to lead you kids to the unconditional love of God and, you know, keep Him from sending you to burn in Hell for all eternity? Yes, you’ve all been very brave and alternately mocked […]
Posted inDeath & Dying
The cruel arithmetic of a Highland graveyard
Reading Time: 4 minutes At the edge of the Nevis Forest in the Scottish Highlands, up on a hillock barely visible from my hike on the West Highland Way, I saw the rusting spikes of a very old iron fence. A cemetery. Had to be. I climbed up the hill and walked through the small gate into the untended […]
Posted inParenting & Family
How my kids met me one age at a time
Reading Time: 4 minutes “Twenty-eight!” “Twenty-eight…oh, that’s a good one.” Despite living with him for 13 years, I knew very little about my dad. He worked three jobs and traveled a lot. When he was in town, he came home exhausted from a hundred-mile round-trip commute. I didn’t even know he was a nonbeliever until long after his death […]
Posted inParenting & Family
Santa Claus: The ultimate dry run
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s hard to even consider the possibility that Santa isn’t real. Everyone seems to believe he is. As a kid, I heard his name in songs and stories and saw him in movies with very high production values. My mom and dad seemed to believe, batted down my doubts, told me he wanted me to […]
Posted inGeneral
Study: Childhood Trauma Affects People for Years
Reading Time: 4 minutes Hi and welcome back! Today’s story might not be all that surprising, but it definitely bears mention. A long-term study (link) has revealed that childhood traumas and bad experiences can linger with us for our entire lives. Since we talk a lot around here about being raised in authoritarian religious households, I thought this study […]
Posted inReligion
Paul Petersen: A New Hypocrite Illustrating Old Flaws
Reading Time: 9 minutes Hi and welcome back! Long ago, we established that Christian hypocrites in elected positions behaving badly no longer qualified as weird enough to remark upon, right? But this one all but cries out for our attention here. His case exposes some deep and old flaws in his end of Christianity. This one’s got it all: […]