Exploring Non-Religious Approaches to Raising Kids with a Spiritual Foundation: A Guide to Talking to Your Children About Religion

Brett: For the most part, everything in this book is pretty obvious. However what this book did accomplish is helping with my confidence that I am doing the right thing and confidence in these issues goes a long way. I have recomended this book to numerous others.

Canada on Jun 22, 2023

Sarah Craze: As a non-religious person I was hoping to never have to talk to my kids about religion. But then I got a curious one and had to get over that idea fast. This book was very helpful and reassured me that my blundering through approach of lots of "some people believes" was a good track to be on.

The only down side was this book is written for American audiences and the religious culture in Australia is different. It's still very useful!

Australia on Aug 21, 2022

Ute D Grubb: I can highly recommend this book, we are raising our son nondenominational, but want him to learn about all religions in this world. He attends a Catholic preschool, and when he started to mention God and religious beliefs that he heard about, we initially felt a little bit at a loss. This book gives great ideas, a wonderful overview and some practical examples how one might want to navigate these conversations. My husband and I both read this book within a couple days and are so glad to have found it.

Germany on Feb 22, 2021

M. Brown: I think that in general, this is a remarkable book that fills a very important need. This isn't the only book or tactic out there to address the topic of religion with kids in a secular family, but I think it is generally unique and I applaud the approach espoused, which is: respectfully present the facts about what others believe, and let kids decide for themselves.

I think that this approach is very important since as secularists, we should be guided by skepticism and the scientific method in everything that we do, and teach our kids these values. Thus, examining religions for their strengths and weaknesses, and allowing our children to form their own conclusions both reinforces this skill, and ultimately makes their ultimate conclusion (which they reach themselves), more meaningful and stable. It also takes the pressure (and therefore, anxiety) off of us, leading to the title of the book.

To this end, the author advocates that we don't shy away from addressing the religion of others, our own non-religiousness (and that's ok!) and directly encourages religious literacy (even to the point of including "cheat sheets" for major religions and holidays) with an eye on...

United States on Jul 03, 2017

Kindle Customer: As an agnostic parent with a child in a Christian school I was struggling to know how to talk to my young son about religion etc. and I found this book gave me the confidence to have those discussions. I have a background in theology and philosophy so it wasn't so much that there were groundbreaking ideas for me but that it reinforced my instincts of broadening awareness of multiple religions and the idea that everyone has a right to their own ideas. I found the format of the book very useful to dip in and out of and it's improved my confidence in having those conversations with my little one - all in all a very helpful read.

United Kingdom on Jun 22, 2016

kgh001: As an atheist and a father of a two-year-old with another on the way, I found this book to be incredibly valuable. Going into parenthood, I struggled with the idea of what I would teach my children about religion, and how much of my own belief system I would impart upon them. Thankfully this book put my mind at ease. I highly recommend it to anyone who is unsure how to broach this topic with their kids.

Canada on Feb 08, 2016

Eric Selby: Parents Take on the 3-Letter Word: G-o-d!
-a personal essay-
Eric Selby

So often a few decades ago—at least for me—parenting involved being untruthful. People didn’t die: the “passed away.” I never had any discussions about the other three letter word: s-e-x since I was in denial of why my then-wife and I didn’t have any. But since she never asked directly—you know, that other three letter word: g-a-y—I never volunteered why I liked walking by houses under construction where, hopefully, at least one young carpenter was shirtless.
My parents were weekly church attendees although just before he died, my father confessed that he mainly went because as the president of the local bank it looked good. (My fondest memory of my father in church was the Sunday he hoisted himself, hymn book in hand, up onto the pew on the outside wall where in one slam he ended the life of a bat. And the minister, a wry Englishman, never stopped preaching his sermon but did manage a witty “Amen” at the demise!) It was after my father’s death that while talking with my mother about God and Jesus that she said, when I asked if she believed that Jesus was part of God,...

United States on Aug 13, 2015