Parenting Beyond Belief

Pete’s Articles in New Parenting Book

Two essays by Pete are part of the new book Parenting Beyond Belief, edited by Dale McGowan, on Amacom Books. These writings, concerning secular parenting, are Pete?s first on non-musical topics to be published by a major publisher. Articles include Parenting in a Secular/Religious Marriage and Building the Secular Community – However Slowly. Other contributing authors include Richard Dawkins, Julia Sweeney, Penn Jillette and Margaret Downey.

Parenting Beyond Belief – Book Description

Foreword by Michael Shermer, Ph.D. 
Contributors include Richard Dawkins, Penn Jillette, Julia Sweeney, and Dr. Donald B. Ardell

It’s hard enough to live a secular life in a religious world. And bringing up children without religious influence can be even more daunting. Despite the difficulties, a large and growing number of parents are choosing to raise their kids without religion.

In Parenting Beyond Belief, Dale McGowan celebrates the freedom that comes with raising kids without formal indoctrination and advises parents on the most effective way to raise freethinking children. With advice from educators, doctors, psychologists, and philosophers as well as wisdom from everyday parents, the book offers tips and insights on a variety of topics, from “mixed marriages” to coping with death and loss, and from morality and ethics to dealing with holidays. Sensitive and timely, Parenting Beyond Belief features reflections from such freethinkers as Mark Twain, Richard Dawkins, Bertrand Russell, and wellness guru Dr. Don Ardell that will empower every parent to raise both caring and independent children without constraints.

Parenting Beyond Belief – Selected Excerpts

An atheist and a Catholic in a marriage? It’s surely a head-shaker. The “soul connection” we’d had now felt to me more like a triangle. As a sociologist mindful of statistics, I knew well that marriages of religiously mismatched partners are less likely to succeed and generally “not recommended.” I had a vague dread that we might have hard collisions of will, and a fear that deepening commitments would lead her toward patterns I might find intolerable. Indeed, in our marriage ceremony we acknowledged the threat of growing apart. Distressed, I started seeing a counselor and did a lot of complaining. The counselor settled on the mantra, “What are you going to do?” After weighing the agonizing alternatives, I finally knew I wanted to keep our family together, and make it work as well as possible. With that as the goal, there was a lot of hard work to do.

About the Author

Dale McGowan, Ph.D. (Minneapolis, MN) holds degrees in the arts and sciences from UC Berkeley, UCLA, and the University of Minnesota. In addition to a 15-year teaching career, he was editor and featured essayist for the Family Issues section of the Atheist Alliance WebCenter.