I know I see one.

Why are they gathering?

On Sunday mornings, when many of their contemporaries are taking their seats in church pews, a group of young parents mingle in the living room of a suburban home while their children run around playing games.

This congregation of Triangle residents has no creed or ceremony, just a desire to get together and offer each other support for rearing children without religion. Taking their cue from a primer of the same name, they call themselves Parenting Beyond Belief, and they meet nearly every Sunday, in a city park, an indoor playground or in people's homes.

But to what end are they gathering?

[T]hey share a disdain for organized religion and a desire to rear their children with the tools to think for themselves.

Now wait – they are gathering with the goal of raising their children to believe a certain way. And yet they then claim that they want the children to “think for themselves.” Odd – when one of the children asks a question that indicates they are thinking in a manner at variance with what their parents believe, how do they respond?

For example, when 6-year-old Evan Spiering announced one day that "God created the world," his father, Todd Spiering, answered, "Grandpa believes that. Some people believe other things."

But wait – why are they undermining what young Evan apparently thinks? Don’t they want him to “think for himself”? Seems to me that they really want Evan to hold to their own beliefs, rather than formulate his own.

But then again, since when have atheists been particularly consistent. As another article points out, inconsistency is inherent in how they approach the entire issue of God.

And then there's the question of why atheists are so intent on trying to prove that God not only doesn't exist but is evil to boot. Dawkins, writing in "The God Delusion," accuses the deity of being a "petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak" as well as a "misogynistic, homophobic, racist ... bully." If there is no God -- and you'd be way beyond stupid to think differently -- why does it matter whether he's good or evil?

Not only that – if they actually believe there is no God, then arguing over the nature of God is the equivalent of debating the color of a leprechaun’s blood. What it really comes down to, then, is that most such folks actually believe in God, but want a reason to refuse to follow.

This all reminds me of one of my friends in college who claimed to be an atheist because her aunt discontinued cancer treatment after prayerfully deciding that ending a painful and fruitless treatment was “accepting God’s will”. I’ll never forget the logically inconsistent argument – “If God’s will was for my aunt to die, then I refuse to believe in God any longer!” So maybe I shouldn’t be surprised by the development of what can only be described as “atheist Sunday school” for small children.

Posted by: Greg at 11:13 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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