Secular American parents in the present day have an extra challenge when they raise children.  American culture, an anomaly in the Western world (see Atheist Demographics) is steeped in religion.  Many parents more in tune with the culture of our country do not concern themselves with raising children to be freethinkers, with open minds and the ability to question and make intelligent decisions. Certain religions encourage both parents and children to move in lockstep, not questioning cultural prescriptives. Secular parents are committed to raising children with open minds.  In addition, atheist parents must make certain practical decisions, such as what to do about Christmas and Easter.  Will your family celebrate these Christian holidays or not?  How does a secular parent deal with Santa Claus?  What do you answer when your teenager is invited to go to an afterschool teen club that is Christian in orientation?  How do atheists deal with explaining the finality of death to young children, since the concept of heaven is not embraced by their family group?  Such practical issues must be dealt with correctly and it’s not always easy to find the “right” answers or the tactful words.

It is vitally important for atheist parents to provide a secure, happy and confident environment for their children.  A dour atheism that reacts too negatively and emotionally to any mention of belief or religion might have an unintended effect on children, either by making them feel they must hide their thoughts concerning religious matters, or by causing them to feel rebellious and contrarian against secularism.  One of the most important skills we can impart to our kids is the ability to think critically.  Along with critical thinking, healthy, inquiring skepticism is a necessity for the secular child.  Atheist parents can create an atmosphere that allows all topics, including belief systems, to be open to discussion.  Parents can encourage curiosity, wonder about the natural world, experimentation according to the scientific method, and finding naturalistic explanations for things.

The atheist community needs centers where atheists can gather socially, take classes in evolution and other topics, hear lectures on secular topics, and take their children.  Our children need a central gathering place where they can meet like-minded families and take short classes in ethics, decision making, science and so on. Secular children should be able to have parties and later on, dances and clubs in their own buildings.  Atheists not only need to work with their children at home, but also provide a meeting place for them in their free time. We need to provide a community of secular support for our families.

Children’s books are another important facet of many young people’s lives.  Books can help provide an open, alternative view to the fearful, obstructionist thinking of religion.   Atheist Scholar has picked volumes helpful to parents trying to navigate the ambiguous cultural world of a society that sends astronauts to the moon and builds a creationist museum and Noah’s Ark theme park in Kentucky.  There are moments when secular parents feel that they need guidance more than their children do!  The Book List has provided two excellent volumes replete with advice and resource venues for parents. The rest of the list is made up of various science and critical thinking children’s volumes for different age groups. Many of the books prioritize the secular outlook. The two volumes listed for parents contain invaluable references.  At the end of the Book List, there is a list of some websites that recommend books of either a secular nature for children, or recommend classic books in the field of children’s literature.  Parents need to sift through the recommendations for suitable titles.  All the books recommended on the Book List have been read through by the Atheist Scholar.

There is not a complete bibliography on the market for atheist or secular children’s books.  An ambitious atheist who is majoring in English, Library Science or Education might consider such a bibliography as a project.  Atheists who like to teach might consider giving a course in secular kids’ books to parents and/or children.  For every book we publish, Christians put out at least ten, but all the same, there are many more books for our children than there were 10 or 15 years ago.  Let us hope the future holds more books, films and centers for the atheist child.  We can reach such goals if we try.

The following Books on the List have been chosen for their merit by critics and readers:

For Parents:

McGowan, Dale.  Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids without Religion. New York: Amacom, 2007.

Dale McGowan’s book is an excellent help for people trying to bring up children in secular homes.  It deals with secular topics in an open and even manner.  Atheists vary in the degree of their unbelief, so some of the suggestions in the volume may not suit every parent, but there are enough resources listed in Parenting to put it on the “must have” list. 

Parenting is divided into sections. There are sections on Personal Reflections, Living with Religion (it’s not going away very soon,) Holidays and Celebrations, Being and Doing Good, Values and Virtues, Death and Consolation, Wondering and Questioning, Science, and Seeking Community.  Well known freethinking and atheist writers, celebrities and experts, such as Penn Jillette, Richard Dawkins, and Julia Sweeney have written essays that reflect their views on various important issues concerning secular families.  Each section contains excellent end notes; the volume is well-indexed, and there is a section providing references used by or known to the authors.  Parenting is additionally important because of its excellent resource guides at the end of the chapters.

Highly Recommended.

McGowan, Dale, et al.  Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief. New York: Amacon, 2009.

Before Parenting Beyond Belief, and Raising Freethinkers, there were no practical resource volumes for helping secular parents raise confident and well adjusted freethinkers.  Dale McGowan relates that he had trouble getting the first book, Parenting Beyond Belief, accepted until Sam Harris’ The End of Faith (2005) hit No. 4 on the New York Times Best Seller List.  Secular parents now have a well-researched, greatly expanded guide with the publication of Freethinkers. The sections in the volume include: The Inquiring Mind, Living and Teaching Ethics in Your Family, Secular Family-Religious World, The Physical Self, Ingredients of a Life Worth Living, Celebrating Life, Death and Life, and Finding and Creating Community.

Raising Freethinkers is a resource treasure of suggested ideas, books, films, websites and freethinking groups around the country. Atheist parents may not agree with all the suggestions expressed in McGowan’s book, but the secular community has never had excellent guides for raising children prior to these volumes’ publication.  Freethinking parents who brought up children before Parenting and Freethinkers usually say how much they could have used such guides to help them with difficult questions and with finding important resource material.  Freethinkers contains dozens of suggestions concerning how to respond on specific occasions, such as secular children receiving religious gifts, preparing kids for questions they will be asked about their unbelief, dealing with death, sex education, and much more.  The volume is well-indexed; there is an appendix with suggested film titles, and the resource guides at the end of each section are invaluable. 

Highly Recommended.

Forthcoming: Katherine Stewart. The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children.

Children’s Books:

Barker, Dan. Maybe Yes, Maybe No: A Guide for Young Skeptics. Illus. Brian Strassburg. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 1990.

Ages 9-12.

Dan Barker’s book, Maybe Yes, Maybe No, is an excellent short volume for teaching children critical thinking, skeptical thinking, and how to employ the scientific method in their lives.  The book begins with a young girl who is a skeptic.  “Skeptic” is well defined for the young reader.  The heroine questions two friends who believe they saw and heard ghosts in their house.  She asks a series of questions that demonstrate their perceptions were incorrect. Barker breaks into the text at this point with how to deal with the claims that religion makes about miracles, angels and so on.  He states that we now know that things like floods, earthquakes and lightning have other, natural, explanations rather than supernatural reasons.

Barker, one of the directors of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, then segues into a detailed discussion of the scientific method and the particular practices that it entails.  He uses accessible language and his descriptions are very easy to understand.  Barker concludes that if you are really certain of something, following the rules of science, then it’s OK to say Yes or No.  But if you aren’t sure, it’s OK to say I don’t know, and Maybe Yes, Maybe No.

Highly Recommended.

Brockman, Christopher. What About Gods? Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 1978.

Ages 9-12

Chris Brockman does not mince words. He tells the young reader that gods are made up by people.  He has no respect for religion and states clearly that religion is a remnant of our early history.  At that time, people explained things they could not understand by means of religion.  Religion was also a concept that helped control people.  The language and ideas expressed are very clear and understandable. This is an excellent book to give children and talk about after they have read it. The volume expands on Dan Barker’s book, Maybe Yes, Maybe No, and its efforts to encourage clear and skeptical thinking in children.  Brockman reinforces the idea that not everyone believes in god.  The book makes it plain that there is nothing wrong with rejecting other people’s ideas, especially about god.  One mother mentioned that her leaning toward agnosticism child was disappointed that the author did not discuss why really smart people believe in god.  Good point.  We need more atheist books like Brockman’s that will expand answers to some of the questions kids will have when they begin to discuss what they have read.

Dawkins, Richard. The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True. Illus. Dave McKean.  New York: Free Press, 2011.
Age Level : 6^th Grade and Up.

Richard Dawkins, the well-known atheist and evolutionary biologist, has performed a much-needed and welcome service for the secular community.  The author of The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion, Dawkins has written a volume for young people and the not so young that explains reality and science in a fascinating 270 pages.  The book is written with verve, charm, amusement and avuncular gentleness. The author separates magic into three categories: supernatural,stage magic (differentiating between legitimate entertainers and charlatans,) and poetic magic (the wonder and beauty we feel  with the encounter and understanding of reality.)  The book carefully explains that while much reality is visibly observable, some things can’t be seen, except by experiment and inference. 

Magic is divided into 12 Chapters: What is reality? What is magic? Who was the first person? Why are there so many different kinds of animals? What are things made of? Why do we have night and day, winter and summer? What is the sun? What is a rainbow? When and how did everything begin? Are we alone? What is an earthquake? Why do bad things happen? What is a miracle?  Most of the chapters begin with one of the above questions and a relation of the myths and folk tales with which people used to explain natural phenomena. Then Dawkins provides the scientific explanation.  Christian mythology is not spared; Dawkins discusses Christian creation myths as well as pagan ones. 

A caveat:  Magic is a complex and long book.  Advanced 6^th Graders will do well with it.  Younger children should read it or have it read to them by their parents, who can help navigate the way through some of the difficult topics.  There is no bibliography and the index is not as thorough as one could wish.  Dave McKean, the famous illustrator, has produced eye-popping and realistic illustrations.  The volume is beautifully printed and well made.  This is the book that parents have been waiting for and that older readers wished they had available when they were young.  Red shift was finally explained to this reader, and a book that can do that is a secular miracle.  Highly Recommended.