CONTENTS

Preface to the Second Edition

CHAPTER 1 PERSONAL REFLECTIONS

Introduction

Navigating Around the Dinner Table

Julia Sweeney

Good and Bad Reasons for Believing

Richard Dawkins

Growing Up Godless: How I Survived Amateur Secular Parenting

Emily Rosa

Excerpt from Autobiography

Bertrand Russell

Raised Without Religion

Other voices of kids and adults raised in nonreligious families

Authentic Secular Parenting: Letting Children Choose

Be-Asia McKerracher

My Father’s House

Dan Barker

Passing Down the Joy of Not Collecting Stamps

Penn Jillette

Additional Resources

CHAPTER 2 LIVING WITH RELIGION

Introduction

Introducing Kids to Things We Don’t Believe

Wendy Thomas Russell

10 Commandments for Talking to Kids About Religion When You’re Not Religious

Wendy Thomas Russell

When Your Child Is Terrified You’re Going to Hell

Neil Carter

Managing Dissonance with Religious Relatives

Libby Anne

Parenting Across the Belief Gap

Dale McGowan

Choosing Your Battles

Stu Tanquist

Secular Schooling

Ed Buckner, Ph.D.

Additional Resources

CHAPTER 3 HOLIDAYS AND CELEBRATIONS

Introduction

Humanist Ceremonies

Jane Wynne Willson

Losing the “Holy,” Keeping the “Day”

Dale McGowan

POINT/COUNTERPOINT: The Question of the Claus: Should the Santa Story Stay or Go in Secular Families?

Point: Put the Claus Away

Tom Flynn

Counterpoint: Santa Claus: The Ultimate Dry Run

Dale McGowan

Additional Resources

CHAPTER 4 ON BEING AND DOING GOOD

Introduction

Raising Ethical Children

Marvin W. Berkowitz, Ph.D.

Spare the Rod—and Spare Me the Rest

Dale McGowan

Morality and Evil

Gareth B. Matthews, Ph.D.

Behaving Yourself: Moral Development in the Secular Family

Jean Mercer, Ph.D.

Take Two Tablets and Call Me in the Morning

Yip Harburg

Double Vision: Teaching Our Twins Pride and Respect

Shannon and Matthew Cherry

Seven Secular Virtues: Humility, Empathy, Courage, Honesty, Openness, Generosity, and Gratitude

Dale McGowan

Excerpt from “Morals Without Religion”

Margaret Knight

Additional Resources

CHAPTER 5 DEATH AND CONSOLATION

Introduction

Before and After

Yip Harburg

Helping Your Child Live with Grief without Religion

Rebecca Hensler

Where All Roads Lead

Dale McGowan

The First Really, Really Hard Good-Bye

Dale McGowan

Small Comforts

Yip Harburg

Dealing with Death in the Secular Family

Rev. Dr. Kendyl Gibbons

Additional Resources

CHAPTER 6 WONDERING AND QUESTIONING

Introduction

Little Bessie Would Assist Providence

Mark Twain

A Nose Is a Nose Is a Nose

Yip Harburg

Of Curious Women and Dead Cats

Dale McGowan

Repurposing Noah’s Ark: How to Inspire Your Kids with the Science of Evolution

Katherine Miller, Ph.D.

We’ve Come a Long Way, Buddy

Yip Harburg

Teaching Kids to Yawn at Counterfeit Wonder

Dale McGowan

Parenting and the Arts

James Herrick

Additional Resources

CHAPTER 7 COMMUNITY AND IDENTITY

Introduction

“What Are We?”

Katherine Ozment

Being Secular, Finding Community

Phil Zuckerman, Ph.D.

Summer Camp Beyond Belief

Amanda K. Metskas and August E. Brunsman IV

Live Better, Help Often, and Wonder More

Sanderson Jones

Additional Resources

Glossary

Notes

Index

Free Sample from Raising Freethinkers by Dale McGowan

About AMACOM