{"id":6134,"date":"2008-12-22T07:56:38","date_gmt":"2008-12-22T07:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/12\/atheists-trying-to-replicate-c.html"},"modified":"2008-12-22T07:56:38","modified_gmt":"2008-12-22T07:56:38","slug":"atheists-trying-to-replicate-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/12\/atheists-trying-to-replicate-c.html","title":{"rendered":"Atheists trying to replicate church"},"content":{"rendered":"

Without the God part of course. Parents want an environment to raise their children with like minded people<\/a>. They want an community that meets regularly where they learn to raise their kids:<\/p>\n

They are not religious, so they don’t go to church. But they are searching for values and rituals with which to raise their children, as well as a community of like-minded people to offer support.
\nDozens of parents came together on a recent Saturday to participate in a seminar on humanist parenting and to meet others interested in organizing a kind of nonreligious congregation, complete with regular family activities and ceremonies for births and deaths.
\n“It’s exciting to know that we could be meeting people who we might perhaps raise children with,” said Tony Proctor, 39, who owns a wealth management company and attended the seminar at Harvard University with his wife, Andrea, 35, a stay-at-home mother.
\n[…]
\nThe seminar’s organizers wanted to reach out to people like the Proctors — first-time parents scrambling for guidance as they improvise how to raise their daughter without the religion of their childhood.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nothing like organized religion to raise your kids, huh?
\nAnd then there’s this:<\/p>\n

People often ask, “How do you expect to raise your children to be good people without religion?” said Dale McGowan, the seminar leader and author of “Parenting Beyond Belief.” He suggested the retort might be something like, “How do you expect to raise your children to be moral people without allowing them to think for themselves?” He advocates exposing children to many religious traditions without imposing any. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How are these children thinking for themselves? If they ever expressed a belief in God or that there was a divine Creator, wouldn’t they stamp out that thought, not encourage it?
\n(via<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Without the God part of course. Parents want an environment to raise their children with like minded people. They want an community that meets regularly where they learn to raise their kids: They are not religious, so they don’t go to church. But they are searching for values and rituals with which to raise their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[406,402],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atheism-2","category-religion-2"],"yoast_head":"\nAtheists trying to replicate church - Reformed Chicks Blabbing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/12\/atheists-trying-to-replicate-c.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Atheists trying to replicate church - Reformed Chicks Blabbing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Without the God part of course. 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