I was brought up in a liberal Catholic tradition. The other day, my dad (who still sees himself as a Catholic) and I both did the Beliefomatic quiz over at Beliefnet. I came out as a secular humanist (no surprise there) and my dad came out as a unitarian universalist with secular humanist in 2nd place!. Out of 30 possible “faiths”, Catholic” was about number 27 on his list. Just goes to show how misleading labels can be, even when people apply them to themselves.

@ wimvandenberghe: Yes! The Belief-o-Matic is one of the best ways to show how much we all overlap and intertwine in values and beliefs.

Just found the PBB YouTube channel after listening to Dale’s interview on the Point Of Inquiry podcast. Thanks for organizing and sharing your thoughts, Dale. Really like your concept of “freethinker with a lower case ‘f.’” I’m reading Parenting Beyond Belief now. My first child is 6 week old. -Matt

A great argument in favor of letting children decide the important questions in life for themselves. In our laws and mores there is the embedded concept that whoever must deal with the consequences of a decision is entitled to make that decision. No one else, not the state, not parents, not the Pope.

“Whoever must deal with the consequences of a decision is entitled to make that decision.”

I first heard this concept 25 years ago, and it still strikes me as one of the great ideas.

Good job Dale! Liked it a lot. But how about everyone else trying to influence my child?

I’m a staunch atheist who is with you 100% on this!

I have two kids and both of them go to church every week. I am an atheist and don’t really wish my kids would take this route in life but I believe in religious freedom as well. If my kids have to stand up everyday and put their hands on their hearts and pledge alleigence to the flag then they can at very least be granted that much freedom in their young lives. Sorry this was so long.

Although it can happen it’s HIGHLY unlikely that a child will get religion in a non-religious family! Now, if it did happen in my family I would find out what led them to their experience and would make sure that they understood that religion as a whole was poison! Now Fred Rogers a good person?

Sure but it wasn’t due to his religion! As a matter of fact that was the one area that he wasn’t so nice! He tried to convert people in a very subtle passive manner but he tried to convert people non the less!