Growing Up Godless

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I have so many questions about what life will be like for my children who have grown up completely godless. I have learned from the kids that they still have some of the stigma and struggle that their dad and I have had regarding religion. But it is far less for them. 

Still they have some.

They tell me that religion is a part of many of their relationships with friends and family:  it's there between them all of the time.

Oh, I lament, why can't some religious people learn to live and let live?  I truly believe that the world will be a much more peaceful place if the rest of us didn't have to tap dance around the beliefs that some people put out there as a starting point. It's there, right at their beginning.  

My kids, who have a completely secular home, still find themselves in situations where their atheism is an issue.

Now think about that for a moment.
My kids, who are logical and critical thinkers are the ones being castigated, censured, and asked to explain themselves to the ones with the imaginary friend.  (OH, how I miss Australia at moments like these.) 

I remain hopeful that the growing generation of secular, freethinking people will begin to gain a foothold in the leadership of this country and will bring their clarity and reason to their peers. I remain hopeful that the momentum of those capable of rational thought and sound judgement will throw away the small box that religion has put around definitions and persons and climates and possibilities.

I remain hopeful that future generations of godless will continue to unite the world in a global peace unlike anything that has ever been accomplished. That proper penance and restitution can be made to those cultures and peoples who have been harmed for religions' sake. That communities can grow under a banner of patience and partnership and compassion and participation and leadership. That our children's children will be forward thinkers and planners. That our species will find balance with the globe upon which we live. That our descendants will know what has true value.

I remain hopeful.