Additional Resources—General

Books

• Humanism for Kids. Family of Humanists, 1997. A short, simple, charming booklet for kids. Straightforwardly addressed questions like “How did we get here?”, everyday ethics, and human potential, giving no credence to supernatural explanations. Sample quote: “Some religions teach that a powerful, invisible, father-like being (‘God’) made the earth and started it turning, and then made the first of each kind of plant and animal. These religions started a long time ago before scientists learned about nature. As we understand nature better, we often see that the old explanations were only guesses.” Order through Family of Humanists at www.familyofhumanists.org.

• Knight, Margaret, and James Herrick, eds. The Humanist Anthology. Prometheus, 1995. A powerful and readable collection of short excerpts from humanist and freethinkers of the past 3,000 years. One of the most important and thought-provoking anthologies in the freethought literature, now in its second incarnation.

• Stone, Anne. Living in the Light: Freeing Your Child from the Dark Ages. American Atheist Press, 2000. The closest predecessor to the current book (along with the Willson title Parenting Without God—see Chapter 1), Living in the Light adopts a different tone, more on the order of “raising atheist children.” Stone is fully cognizant of why religion persists, but unapologetic in her assessment of it. On her website, Stone describes the book as “an anti-religious book for parents who want to teach children spiritual values without teaching them religion.” Much that is worthwhile and well-presented.

Websites

• Parents’ Corner on the Secular Web: http://www.infidels.org/families/parents/

• America Online chat and message boards for atheist parents: Keyword Atheism, follow links

• Yahoo’s Atheist Parenting group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/atheistparenting/

• iVillage Atheist/Agnostic Parenting message board:
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-ppatheist

• Atheist Parents: www.atheistparents.org
Despite the promising title (and as confessed by the site’s founder), Atheist Parents has drifted from its original parent-focused intention into a general atheist site, with essays, reviews, and links. Some parenting info is in the mix. Worth a look.

• Family of Humanists: www.familyofhumanists.org

• Ethical Atheist: www.ethicalatheist.org
Includes discussion boards for atheist parenting, resources, articles. An interesting split choice: Visit the main website, which presents nontheism resources and information, or click on The Dark Side, which takes you to the more confrontational, anti-religious side.

• Atheist Alliance Family Issues: www.atheistalliance.org – click on Family Issues A fine, fine collection of articles, essays, and interviews—but not updated for a while, since the editor went on leave to (ahem) write this book.

• Humanist Network News—Sweet Reason: www.humanistnetworknews.org An excellent e-zine for humanists, including “Sweet Reason” columnist Molleen Matsumura who frequently addresses secular parenting issues.

• American Atheists Youth and Family page: www.atheists.org/family/
Articles, reviews, and links. Look in particular for the good work of Dave Silverman.

• Agnostic Mom: www.agnosticmom.com
The website of agnostic columnist and former Mormon mom Noell Hyman.

• The Atheist Mama: www.theatheistmama.com
A good blog by an articulate activist mom. Many fine links and features.

• Club Mom: www.clubmom.com
Search for columns by agnostic contributor Noell Hyman by typing “Hyman” into the search field.