Quote :

"On Sunday mornings, most parents who don't believe in the Christian God, or any god at all, are probably making brunch or cheering at their kids' soccer game, or running errands or, with luck, sleeping in. Without religion, there's no need for church, right? Maybe. But some nonbelievers are beginning to think they might need something for their children. "When you have kids," says Julie Willey, a design engineer, "you start to notice that your co-workers or friends have church groups to help teach their kids values and to be able to lean on." So every week, Willey, who was raised Buddhist and says she has never believed in God, and her husband pack their four kids into their blue minivan and head to the Humanist Community Center in Palo Alto, Calif., for atheist Sunday school. An estimated 14% of Americans profess to have no religion, and among 18-to-25-year-olds, the proportion rises to 20%, according to the Institute for Humanist Studies. The lives of these young people would be much easier, adult nonbelievers say, if they learned at an early age how to respond to the God-fearing majority in the U.S. "It's important for kids not to look weird," says Peter Bishop, who leads the preteen class at the Humanist center in Palo Alto. Others say the weekly instruction supports their position that it's O.K. to not believe in God and gives them a place to reinforce the morals and values they want their children to have. The pioneering Palo Alto program began three years ago, and like-minded communities in Phoenix, Albuquerque, N.M., and Portland, Ore., plan to start similar classes next spring. The growing movement of institutions for kids in atheist families also includes Camp Quest, a group of sleep-away summer camps in five states plus Ontario, and the Carl Sagan Academy in Tampa, Fla., the country's first Humanism-influenced public charter school, which opened with 55 kids in the fall of 2005. Bri Kneisley, who sent her son Damian, 10, to Camp Quest Ohio this past summer, welcomes the sense of community these new choices offer him: "He's a child of atheist parents, and he's not the only one in the world." Kneisley, 26, a graduate student at the University of Missouri, says she realized Damian needed to learn about secularism after a neighbor showed him the Bible. "Damian was quite certain this guy was right and was telling him this amazing truth that I had never shared," says Kneisley. In most ways a traditional sleep-away camp--her son loved canoeing--Camp Quest also taught Damian critical thinking, world religions and tales of famous freethinkers (an umbrella term for atheists, agnostics and other rationalists) like the black abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The Palo Alto Sunday family program uses music, art and discussion to encourage personal expression, intellectual curiosity and collaboration. One Sunday this fall found a dozen children up to age 6 and several parents playing percussion instruments and singing empowering anthems like I'm Unique and Unrepeatable, set to the tune of Ten Little Indians, instead of traditional Sunday-school songs like Jesus Loves Me. Rather than listen to a Bible story, the class read Stone Soup, a secular parable of a traveler who feeds a village by making a stew using one ingredient from each home. Down the hall in the kitchen, older kids engaged in a Socratic conversation with class leader Bishop about the role persuasion plays in decision-making. He tried to get them to see that people who are coerced into renouncing their beliefs might not actually change their minds but could be acting out of self-preservation--an important lesson for young atheists who may feel pressure to say they believe in God. Atheist parents appreciate this nurturing environment. That's why Kitty, a nonbeliever who didn't want her last name used to protect her kids' privacy, brings them to Bishop's class each week. After Jonathan, 13, and Hana, 11, were born, Kitty says she felt socially isolated and even tried taking them to church. But they're all much more comfortable having rational discussions at the Humanist center. "I'm a person that doesn't believe in myths," Hana says. "I'd rather stick to the evidence.""

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1686828,00.html

[Edited on November 27, 2007 at 8:29 AM. Reason : @]

11/27/2007 8:23:39 AM

you missed the soap box by a couple

11/27/2007 8:24:51 AM

i'm ok with that

[Edited on November 27, 2007 at 8:30 AM. Reason : &]

11/27/2007 8:25:16 AM

you just want to be touched by noodly appendages

11/27/2007 9:26:51 AM

personally, I'd send their butts to regular sunday school and let them figure out what they believe on their own.

11/27/2007 9:27:12 AM

or just not even send them to any sunday school and let them figure it out on their own

11/27/2007 9:48:19 AM

11/27/2007 9:50:42 AM

I would agree with that. I don't believe in God, but I was raised Christian, and I always liked Sunday school.

11/27/2007 9:51:01 AM

people can believe whatever they want, i have no problem with this.

however, i think a lot of people who are religious are so b/c they were told these things at such an early age and held onto them.

11/27/2007 10:08:05 AM

agreed... Children are taught to believe it and not question it from the very beginning. I always questioned it. I do agree though that giving the kids the social/discipline side of going to church and all that jazz is a good thing, I just don't think they should be forced to believe what their parents believe from birth and religion shouldn't be the sole reason that they behave and have good morals.

11/27/2007 10:11:45 AM

11/27/2007 10:13:21 AM

Quote :

"personally, I'd send their butts to regular sunday school and let them figure out what they believe on their own."

I agree with you. let's go have some children I was disappointed when my mother stopped sending us to Sunday school just because SHE was no longer a believer, even though us children were still interested.

This sunday school seems to teach clearly that there is no God, and to instill the idea that they are better than Christians. Doesn't sound great to me.

11/27/2007 10:27:34 AM

Quote :

"to instill the idea that they are better than Christians"

it's hard to be an atheist and not believe this

11/27/2007 10:29:26 AM

lol.

11/27/2007 10:31:15 AM

this is how i look at it


there are more productive uses of my time than to mess around with religious stuff

11/27/2007 10:31:41 AM

like going to church to get some ass, amirite??

11/27/2007 10:32:28 AM

^^^^yeah, probably true, and yet, sadly, some Christians have the same mindset.

11/27/2007 10:33:17 AM

^5 not true

I don't think that I'm better than Christians

I just have better ideas

[Edited on November 27, 2007 at 10:34 AM. Reason : -]

11/27/2007 10:34:42 AM

haha, call a spade a spade

11/27/2007 10:36:45 AM

Quote :

"like going to church to get some ass, amirite??"

lol...like i said, there are more productive uses with my time

11/27/2007 10:37:52 AM

just like I don't have Muslims but I do hate Islam

11/27/2007 10:39:13 AM

Eh, let people do what they want to do. Don't judge them and think you're better than them no matter what you believe or don't believe. Unless they are hurting you personally what does it matter? I have no problem with Atheists, some I had no clue they were atheists until the topic came up. They can live ethically just like some Christians....and even Christians have trouble living the "right" way.

11/27/2007 11:22:20 AM

I'm gonna let my wife take care of the kids' religion

11/27/2007 11:27:08 AM

Quote :

"just like I don't have Muslims but I do hate Islam"

odd thing to say

Quote :

"and I always liked Sunday school"

I liked it when it was coloring pictures of Jesus and such. I didn't really like it when we got to the "oh, by the way, it's your responsibility to minister to gay people because they're totally going to hell if we don't try to force them into our religion!" thing.

[Edited on November 27, 2007 at 11:36 AM. Reason : .]

11/27/2007 11:34:25 AM

Quote :

"Children are taught to believe it and not question it from the very beginning. I always questioned it."

Yeah, I guess you are just special.

ALL of the other kids just blindly follow, except you.

It isn't possible that other Christians had questions and resolved them, while still remaining Christians.

11/27/2007 11:39:52 AM

Muslims are individual people
I don't hate people

Islam is an oppressive ideology
its okay to hate ideologies

11/27/2007 11:59:04 AM

Quote :

"I didn't really like it when we got to the "oh, by the way, it's your responsibility to minister to gay people because they're totally going to hell if we don't try to force them into our religion!" thing."

I was never taught this, maybe it was just the region I lived in, or my church at that time, but gay people was just never an issue.

11/27/2007 12:35:29 PM

Quote :

"Yeah, I guess you are just special. ALL of the other kids just blindly follow, except you. It isn't possible that other Christians had questions and resolved them, while still remaining Christians."

11/27/2007 12:45:31 PM

Quote :

"chembob"

11/27/2007 12:46:30 PM

Quote :

"personally, I'd send their butts to regular sunday school and let them figure out what they believe on their own."

what, "pray tell", is regular sunday school?



from TSB

Quote :

"I would will someday send my kids to something like this definitely. sunday school isn't and shouldn't be just about god it's about teaching kids to love and share and help others, etc stuff that doesn't really get taught in the normal reading, writing and 'rithmetic routine and guess what? a lot of parents don't want to rely on fairy tales and myths as a way to teach their kids "So kids, why do we share?" "Because Jesus blah blah the angels blah blah it's a nice thing to do.""

[Edited on November 27, 2007 at 3:00 PM. Reason : ]

11/27/2007 2:58:47 PM