Article: Why I Raise My Children Without God

I am often amazed how often people think that my existence is offensive when I mention I am an atheist.  

I did not experience attitude like that until a few years ago when I started going on line.

I grew up just outside of New York City, the town was 40% Jewish and 40% Catholic, and a lot of the kids I went to grade school with had parents who worked for international corporations or the United Nations, so I knew kids who were Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist.  When religion was discussed it was for learning the differences and similarities, not judging.

In the past month I have had to straighten a few people out when they post on some boards nonsense about needing religion to be a decent person.  One of my sisters is pretty much an atheist and when she has posted about her daughter being OK after last month's shootings*, there were a few people who responded with posts about the non-religious being responsible, etc.  I had to take them to task.  My sister can usually defend herself, but she was in a state of shock for the first few days.

There were a few people who claimed the cause was that their God was taken out of the schools, but that is a lie.  Prayer is permitted in schools, individual students can pray (and I am sure a lot do if they have not studied for a test), as long as it isn't school-lead prayer.  When you think about it, their God can't even keep child molestation out of the churches.

* My niece is a second grader at Sandy Hook: her teacher from six months before was killed as well as a few kids she knew.  She also heard the gunshots and saw her principal's body.