Raising Children without Religion- Secular Family Values

[StellaMarie]

The research shows that those with no religion in the United States do tend to strongly favor individual rights. Given the fact that they are a religious minority, and the fact that the United States has a culture of support for individual rights, that's not surprising.

I'm not sure, though, that the evidence shows that those with no religion are leading the pack to the same extent when it comes to measures that would help disadvantaged groups. Are the "Nones" as anxious to demonstrate for immigration reform, universal health care, affordable child care, prison and criminal justice reform, better educational opportunities for those in poorer areas, an end to racial profiling, better laws on rape/sexual assault, etc? Sure, some are - but as a group, atheists tend to be whiter, more male, more Anglo, more educated and more affluent than the average American, and these issues are less likely to be at the very top of their agenda.

I think that's a stretch, and I'm not sure that's what the Pew study, at least, showed. The survey did ask about abortion and same-sex marriage -- and, fair enough, those could be characterized as individual rights issues (though I think that they go beyond that). But non-religious respondents also tended to identify as Democratic and liberal. I hope, at least, that those terms are generally understood to go beyond individual liberty.

My personal experience, at least, has been that "nones"/agnostics/atheists have tended to be more liberal/socially progressive.

I don't think that "secular" people corner the market on morality, of course. But I don't view religion and morality to be one and the same -- and nothing pisses me off more than politicians and religious leaders with questionable personal morals lecturing me about mine. (Newt Gingrich, please tell me more about the sanctity of marriage!)

With their rising numbers, the religiously unaffiliated are an increasingly important segment of the electorate. In the 2008 presidential election, they voted as heavily for Barack Obama as white evangelical Protestants did for John McCain. More than six-in-ten religiously unaffiliated registered voters are Democrats (39%) or lean toward the Democratic Party (24%). They are about twice as likely to describe themselves as political liberals than as conservatives, and solid majorities support legal abortion (72%) and same-sex marriage (73%). In the last five years, the unaffiliated have risen from 17% to 24% of all registered voters who are Democrats or lean Democratic.

[morri]

not to be too number crunching but according to this study the US populations Atheism has increased to 5 %

http://www.winmr.com/web/files/news/14/file/14.pdf

It is quite an interesting study too look at too.

[SnazzyNazzy]

We are the weird parents. We aren't atheist, but totally non-religious. We kind of bring religion into the mix at home. My 10yo asked about Noah's Ark, that led to an hour long discussion, which evolved into genetics and such. I asked him questions, and he sat and thought about them (critical thinking FTW). He eventually decided that there may have been an ark, and there may have been a dude named Noah, but the whole animal thing was off.

[Full enough quiver]

We aren't religious. It's been kind of an evolution for us. Hubby and stepdaughter still identify as Christian. My daughter and I are agnostic, leaning atheist. Hubby hasn't been to church in 5 years, I haven't been in 13 years. Our kids seem to be turning out ok. They're both honor students. They volunteer, they are polite and helpful at home, they are kind to others, very well adjusted girls. We definitely get crap about their lack of religious upbringing, how will they have any morals, etc. It's extremely annoying. My kids are better behaved by far compared to their cousins who are being raised religious. It's weird that my family is surprised by that.