... the only democratic national atheist organization in the United States ...
AAI 2008 Community Cooperation Award applications available - Deadline August 31!
Now Available! 2007 Convention DVDs - Convention Collectibles - Convention Photos
|
THE FAMILY ISSUES INTERVIEW: JULY 2002
This is the third in a monthly series of interviews with freethinking parents. Andrea Steele is the author of "Your Preacher May Not Want You to Read This," an autobiographical account of her "de-conversion" from an evangelical Southern Baptist past. She is also the administrator of the websites YourPreacher.com and Families-In-Reason.org. Mother of three, Ms. Steele lives in Brandon, Florida. FI: You were fairly young when you became involved in an evangelical Christian church. AS: Yes. From the age of nine to age sixteen I was enveloped in a born-again Christian mentality. FI: Describe the process of working your way out of it. AS: It was a gradual process. It started with reading about things that I was curious about during that period but was told were satanic by my church. New Age material filled up my bookshelves over a few years and as a result of that interest, I developed a strong sense of self-responsibility. I now hope to instill that self-responsibility in my children, without the supernatural journey I went through. FI: And now you'd describe yourself as...? AS: ...an agnostic atheist with secular humanist tendencies. FI: Tell me about your kids. Girls, boys, ages? AS: I have two daughters and a son. The girls are ages ten and five, and my son is eight. FI: And have you discussed your beliefs with them? AS: Issues of beliefs initially arose when my oldest daughter was four. My parents had purchased a set of pop-up books for her at Christmas. One of them included the legend of the birth of Christ. At that age, I knew that she wouldn't be able to grasp too much of what I was reading in the book, but I used the opportunity to elaborate and emphasis that this is what SOME people think happened, and this is why SOME people celebrate Christmas. I added that we just celebrated it because it is a fun tradition. FI: And your other kids? AS: Those initial explanations trickled down to my other two kids when they were old enough to look beyond their egocentricity to wonder. Later on I explained about the Winter Solstice and added some history of how Christianity overtook that particular celebration. At that young of an age, my kids only took in bits and pieces of what I was attempting to explain, but the point was to open up dialogue. FI: Are there any issues to work out between your beliefs and those of your husband? AS: Not really. Our philosophical views are in alignment. I am more focused on these ideals than he is, but we are in agreement in our non-belief and raising our children to be inquiring and rational. FI: So the two of you have presumably discussed how you'll present religion to your kids. Tell us about that. AS: We both want our children to learn about the history behind major religions, as well as scientific discoveries that help them to make decisions based on substantial evidence. Exposing them to religion from an academic angle is in my opinion, an ideal approach. Age appropriateness has to be taken into account though. Obviously a four year old who typically sees herself at the center of the universe will not grasp what an eight, ten or twelve year old who has developed a sense of empathy would. FI: I assume the "academic angle" precludes going to church --- or no? AS: I wouldn't send my child to a church during his/her formative years to decide if they want to go or not. There is too much of a risk of indoctrination, as kids are extremely trusting of adults and have no reason to suspect that they are not being told the truth about any given subject. Whatever they choose AFTER we know we have done our best to encourage reason and critical thinking, is their business. We recognize and respect the individuality in each of them. FI: On another topic, you've developed a website for freethinking parents. What's the Families in Reason site all about, and how did you come to create it? AS: The Families In Reason website came about after I began to seek a readership for my self-published book, "Your Preacher May Not Want You To Read This". I discovered freethought/atheist/agnostic/secular humanist groups that I had no idea existed this time last year. It turned out that there were actually names and entire philosophies that coincided with my personal ideals. After spending many, many hours on the Internet perusing the websites associated with such groups, I recognized a lack of resources for parents. Basically, I saw a need, and felt that I could assist in filling that need through compiling resources and support. Knowing how isolated a person can feel when his/her personal philosophies do not resonate with the theistic majority, I created "Raising Independent Thinkers", an online discussion board for parents to come together anonymously on the web and discuss their concerns and issues unique to raising a family without religion and a belief in the existence of a higher power. Well, that wasn't enough for me. I KNEW that we couldn't possibly be the only parents in our community who are raising a family without superstitious motivations. I began to brainstorm about how an organization could accommodate parents and children in an effort to provide interaction and intelligent discussion among freethinking families. My husband William and I discussed the idea and we decided that we would do what we could to make it a reality. I had already established a website for my book, and merely added a few new pages to it to launch the Families In Reason program. On the site is a statement of purpose, goals, articles, suggested resources, links, the Raising Independent Thinkers forum, and a brand new discussion group just for junior high and high school freethinkers called Freethought Commons. The Families in Reason website has been a solo effort thus far, and each of the forums are moderated by me. As I patiently wait for Families in Reason to become solidified as more than an online community, I will continue to run the website and my mouth. |
| Questions or Comments? Whether you want to get involved, or you found a broken link, write to: |
| COPYRIGHT © 2008 Atheist Alliance |