Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion | 
 enlarge | Creator: Dale Mcgowan
Publisher: AMACOM
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  43 reviews
Sales Rank: 6294
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.8
ISBN: 0814474268
Dewey Decimal Number: 649.7
EAN: 9780814474266
ASIN: 0814474268
Publication Date: April 25, 2007
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Product Description
Foreword by Michael Shermer, Ph.D. Contributors include Richard Dawkins, Penn Jillette, Julia Sweeney, and Dr. Donald B. Ardell Its 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.
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 38 more reviews...
Big Fan October 2, 2008
This book is a wonderful resource and I am enjoying it very much. I can't wait for "Raising Freethinkers" to come out!
Amazingly refreshing September 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have not finished it yet but it is just what I needed to get the support that was lacking as I raise my son to be a free-thinker.
 Greatest value comes from lack of competitors September 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Not a whole lot on the subject out there, so you take what you can get. It's not a bad book, but it wasn't phenomenal either. It's a lot of stories and anecdotes. Not much 'how to' to get through the challenges, but more of a pat on the back and some reassuring words that things turn out in the end.
I wish my parents had had this book! August 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Raising a child outside of a congregation can be a lonely experience. Although my husband and I are both atheists, and are part of the freethought community, there's little in the way of family resources available to us.
Along comes this book. I had high hopes, though I somewhat expected to be disappointed; the first time someone does something, it doesn't always come out that well. Imagine my surprise when I found myself learning so much about what it is to be a child without a church, even though I had been one. I remember my mother and father groping their way in the dark through various situations, and though they did pretty well, I imagine it would have been a lot easier with something like this to guide them.
This is a permanent part of our parenting library, and I recommend it to parents whenever I get a chance!
 Not as great as I was expecting August 28, 2008
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
I'm an atheist and have read extensively on the subject, but practical advice for child rearing has always been lacking in this area, so I had high expectations for this book. The reviews here all seem to be excellent, so I was expecting a lot more than I received.
The book is basically a collection of anecdotes from various writers. I don't have a problem with this format, but some of the writers didn't even have children. This was perhaps done to give a perspective from a child's viewpoint of what atheism is about, but I didn't really need this perspective. Again, I have read so many other books that having someone discuss what it means to be an atheist isn't helpful when I was expecting a book about raising children.
The other aspect of this book is that the principle writers seem to be more of the "angry" or missionary atheists, mostly wanting to convince people of the benefits of atheism. Again, I don't need to be converted, I've been an atheist now for over 20 years. The less preachy of the writers was Dwakins, so you can imagine what the others were like.
I hate to provide the lowest review of this book to date, but I think people buying this book should know what to expect. This is not a book that will answer any questions for you and others have noted this in their reviews as well, but it should be emphasized. It will however give you reassurance that you're not the only person with these questions. Still, if you've been an atheist a long time, you're likely not going to read anything new or insightful in this book.
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