My wife is methodist and I'm atheist. I really haven't given the kids my perspective on things though I don't tell them I believe things I don't if they ask (which they really haven't). They've been exposed to the methodist side through church, wife, and in-laws. Right now my son bounces around on religious issues, it's hard to pin down his thoughts on it. My daughter has gone straight-up atheist. Interestingly, she and I are the ones who've read the Bible straight through. (Well, I listened via an audiobook of the NIV).

Of course, the easy way to raise secular Jewish kids is to do it like DH and I were brought up - Reform, but really really half-assed about it. But ultimately I think that does a disservice both to Secular Humanism and Reform Judaism.

Of course, the easy way to raise secular Jewish kids is to do it like DH and I were brought up - Reform, but really really half-assed about it.

I think that's the default of a lot of Jewish kids of a certain age/generation. That's how Lewis was brought up (and he just turned 40), although ironically enough, he's the only one out of he, his brother, and his sister, who had a bar/bat mitzvah. He said he wanted to learn about it and do something that his older siblings hadn't done. Of course, having done so, he also feels perfectly comfortable saying, "I have no interest in practicing-- I gave it a go and it's not for me."

Jess, there's also the Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring, but that also looks like it's just in Manhattan. (I mostly know about them because they do Yiddish classes and klezmer and Yiddish theatre, but they've also got

The WC/AR offers a progressive, cultural Jewish education for children in our supplementary schools. Programs include Jewish history, arts, traditions and values, Yiddish and Hebrew language skills. Each child’s shule (school) experience culminates in a secular bar/bas mitsve celebration.

[link]

(Tell me if you want me to stop. I've got some free time and started thinking and googling, but I can stop with the suggestions if you don't want any more.)

David Steinberg on the Tonight Show after he had been doing quite a bit of Biblical humor, subject to the flaws in my memory:

Yes, Johnny, I have been getting a lot of letters. I get letters from Baptist preachers saying, "Please do not make fun of the Jewish people. That's what we do."....I also get letters from Reform rabbis, asking me who Moses is."

I can't promise I'll actually follow up on any of these links, Hil, but I do appreciate the info. Keep 'em coming!

(My priority for my family right now is to keep us all from killing each other while we deal with having a newborn in the house during the coldest/darkest time of the year. Also I would really very much like to not be pregnant anymore. Really really really a lot.)

huh ... my mother was nominally Unitarian (she claimed to be, but preferred sleeping to going to Sunday services) but made it clear that religion was for stupid people, my father was atheist. They were shocked when I became Episcopalian. (My sister says she's a Druid ... which seems to be more acceptable to mom.)

When is your due date, Jessica?

December 31st! 4 more weeks!

I've heard really mixed things about the Hebrew Language Academy Charter School in Brooklyn. Officially, they're a secular public school with an emphasis on Hebrew language and the culture and history of the Jewish people, but most things I've seen seem much more "We're secular so that we can run on public money" than "We're secular because we believe in that as a philosophy." I haven't heard much about it lately, though.

(Yikes, just noticed the time. Off to teach.)