I Really Like Some Christmas Songs

I’m not hugely into Christmas music, but there are a few songs that I like to listen to around the holidays. One is explicitly atheist, a few are secular favorites, and a couple are more traditional. Enjoy!

“White Wine in the Sun” – Tim Minchin
This is probably my favorite Christmas song ever, and Tim Minchin does a wonderful job of delving into the complex feelings that many atheists have about the holidays. This year, there is a new animated video for it.

Tags: Annie Lennox, atheism, Blondie, Christmas, Eartha Kitt, John Lennon, list, music, Slade, The Ramones, The Waitresses, Tim Minchin, top 10, Twisted Sister

How do atheists do Christmas?

The short answer, in my household at least, is pretty much the same as the rest of my family–just without God. The long answer is somewhat more complicated, and it continues to become more so as my daughter grows up, asks more questions, and tries to figure out what she believes.

I was raised Catholic, but like many US American Catholics my family was never particularly religious aside from going to mass most Sundays and making sure that my sister and I had first communion and were confirmed at the appropriate ages. Holidays with my family were and are primarily secular affairs, days for eating too much pie and spending more-or-less quality time together.

Tags: atheism, Christmas, holidays, religion, tradition

I Am Not a Princess

This unofficial video by ELY was my introduction to Marina and the Diamonds, and it’s amazing.

 

Tags: ELY, I Am Not a Princess, Marina and the Diamonds, music

10 Biblical Reasons for Women to Avoid Christianity Like the Plague

Al Stefanelli has a longer post on this topic, but I think these verses (direct from the Bible!) that he quotes stand on their own and make the point as well as anything else we can add to them:

1. “No wickedness comes anywhere near the wickedness of a woman…..Sin began with a woman and thanks to her we all must die” (Ecclesiasticus 25:19,24).
2. “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I don’t permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner” (I Timothy 2:11-14).
3. “The birth of a daughter is a loss” (Ecclesiasticus 22:3).
4. “Keep a headstrong daughter under firm control, or she will abuse any indulgence she receives. Keep a strict watch on her shameless eye, do not be surprised if she disgraces you” (Ecclesiasticus 26:10-11).
5. “As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.” (I Corinthians 14:34-35)
6. “When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whoever touches anything she sits on must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, he will be unclean till evening” (Lev. 15:19-23).
7. “If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes her saying, ‘I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,’ …and no proof of the girl’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of the town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.” (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)
8. “A bad wife brings humiliation, downcast looks, and a wounded heart. Slack of hand and weak of knee is the man whose wife fails to make him happy. Woman is the origin of sin, and it is through her that we all die. Do not leave a leaky cistern to drip or allow a bad wife to say what she likes. If she does not accept your control, divorce her and send her away” (Ecclesiasticus 25:25).
9. “Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God…A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head” (I Corinthians 11:3-10).
10. “They called out to Lot and said, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have sex with them! Lot went out to them at the entrance and shut the door behind him. He said, “Don’t do this evil, my brothers. Look, I’ve got two daughters who haven’t had sexual relations with a man. I’ll bring them out to you, and you can do whatever you want to them. However, don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the protection of my roof.” (Genesis 19:5-8)

Tags: atheism, gender, misogyny, religion, the Bible, women

Children’s Books for Secular and Progressive Families: Part Three

I mentioned in a previous post how pleased I am that my daughter, Sylvia, is reading independently now. The best thing about having a kid who reads on her own is that it really does greatly expand our options as far as what books we can get for her. When looking at a new title, I no longer have to think about whether or not it’s a story that I feel like reading at bedtimes or if it’s something that will be too difficult or intimidating for Sylvia to read on her own, which is great.

The downside to this, however, is that I think a lot more now about what she is learning from what she reads. Most picture books and early reader titles are inoffensive–they’re simple stories to entertain, common fairy tales, or geared toward teaching kids the basics of literacy. When you start getting into books for older children, you’re more likely to find problematic messages about any number of issues–religion, gender, race, relationships, and so on–and I think it’s important for parents to be involved in what their children are reading.

In general, I’m pretty laissez-faire about what Sylvia reads. For the most part, I feel like if she is capable of reading something and if she wants to read it she’s welcome to read any book in our home. Hopefully she’ll stay away from Game of Thrones for a few more years, but I’d probably let her try to read it if she grabbed it off the shelf. When she has school book fairs, I’ve made it a habit to give her $5 each time, and I trust her to pick out a book or two on her own. Rather than policing the reading material she has access to, I prefer to be aware of what she has, read her books myself if I’m concerned about the content, and make sure that I or my partner talk to her about what she is reading, her opinions on it, and what she thinks she is learning from it.

Tags: A Young People's History of the United States, book review, books, children's books, Girls Think of Everything, His Dark Materials, parenting, reading, The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, The Magic of Reality

Children’s Books for Secular and Progressive Families: Part Two

I absolutely love that my daughter has finally developed a real love of reading. I was honestly worried when Sylvia was younger that she just wasn’t going to be much of a reader. She always read well, but (unlike me, when I was a child) she just never seemed terribly interested in the books I bought her, preferring instead to watch movies, ride her scooter, play board games, color, or do puzzles–all of which Sylvia is quite good at, but still. I worried.

This year, I think she finally hit some critical mass of reading fluency, and she now reads much more than she used to. When she isn’t playing computer games, hanging out with kids in our neighborhood, or working through her unfinished math workbooks from school (she does this for fun–for real), Sylvia reads quietly in her room. Often, she reads aloud to her stuffed animals, setting up a classroom on a blanket. She doesn’t like an audience when she’s reading, but it’s nice to know that she is doing it.

When I was worrying about it, I tried at first to encourage her verbally. Then I tried to just make sure that she had a wide variety of books to choose from. Then I tried making her read–for a few minutes while I made dinner or as a condition of getting to watch a movie. Then I worried that I was making reading seem like a punishment, so I stopped. I thought for a while that maybe her refusal to read was my fault–I read a lot myself, and I thought maybe not reading was Sylvia’s little rebellion.

Tags: Basher Books, book review, books, children's books, Dover Coloring Books, early readers, Franny K Stein, How to Be an Explorer of the World, Maybe Yes Maybe No, parenting, reading

Children’s Books for Secular and Progressive Families: Part One

Today, I came home to find one of my very favorite things: a box of books from Amazon. Last week, I ordered a few books that are going to be Christmas gifts for my daughter; they have arrived, and I am very pleased with all of them. To celebrate (and to distract myself from reading them all immediately), I thought I would make a list of some of my favorite children’s books for secular families.

My daughter, Sylvia, turned 8 in April, and she’s reading far above her grade level now. This has opened up a whole new world of possibilities as far as books are concerned, but as she reads more and more it has also meant more work for me as a parent–selecting books to buy for her, being aware of things she is reading so we can talk about them, and trying to ensure that I am making the most of my (very) limited buying power to provide a good mix of titles that she will enjoy and learn from. We still read at bedtime every night, so I also try to buy books that we can enjoy as a family.

This list includes titles suitable for several age groups, with what I hope is a good mix of fiction and non-fiction. I’m going to break it into two or three parts because it’s going to be lengthy.

Tags: book review, books, Born with a Bang, children's books, From Lava to Life, G is for Galaxy, Mammals Who Morph, Older Than the Stars, parenting, picture books, reading, science, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Spider and the Fly

There’s No Need for a Higher Authority

Squashed Asks: Do you have anything that you consider a higher authority than yourself to test your beliefs against? What in your life are you forced to wrestle with, even if it makes you uncomfortable?

I don’t see the purpose of the desire for a higher authority, to be honest. Believing anything based simply upon the authority of someone else is a terrible idea, and I think this can be applied to gods as well.

Even if I were to find out that there is, in fact, a “higher power” in the universe, I’d be quite skeptical of believing the things that it said or doing the things that it told me to do simply because it was bigger or smarter or more powerful than I am. I’d prefer to see evidence of why I ought to listen to that higher authority before choosing whether or not it was worth doing so.

Tags: atheism, authority, faith, morality, questions atheists ask, questions religious people ask, religion