Get Ready for Darwin Day!!!

Did you know Darwin Day is on Thursday?? My husband and I started celebrating it with our kids a few years ago, but I had a hard time finding resources at first. So, I thought I'd post a blog with some websites, books and ideas for celebrating Darwin Day. What is Darwin Day? It is a day to celebrate science and humanity and we do this on Charles Darwin's birthday, February 12. This year is his 200th birthday!!

The best site to go to for information and events that may be occurring in your area is the official Darwin Day Website. Unfortunately there have not been any family friendly events in my area since I first discovered Darwin Day. If you can't find anything in your area, I'll list some ideas below on how to create your own celebration.

I first learned about Darwin Day through Agnostic Mom. She is a former Mormon turned atheist who lives in Arizona. She has a fantastic blog although she is not as active on it now as she was a couple of years ago. Here is a link to an article on how she and her family celebrate Darwin Day for the entire week of Darwin's birthday. It's a great article and offers some good ideas.

When we first started celebrating Darwin Day, I discovered it a little too late to have some books on hand for my kids. I looked at all of our local bookstores and found NOTHING...so I ended up getting them on Amazon. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Tree of Life: The Wonders of Evolution

Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story

Mammals who Morph

Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution

Darwin and Evolution for Kids: His Life and Ideas with 21 Activities

The above book has some great activities and I will be using it quite a bit to plan our Darwin Day celebration. It should also be noted that these books can be read by adults who are unfamiliar with the actual theory of evolution as well as children. The explanations are a good start for people who are interested in learning about the theory.

Of course, everyone should also read The Origin of the Species at some point in their lives. It is nice because although it is explaining a scientific theory, it can be read by anybody.

Some websites to look at for information on evolution include:

Talk Origins There is so much information available at this website and it offers a section on common misconceptions about evolution. It is surprising how many people are misinformed and this website is a great tool for people to learn about evolution and to find answers to common questions.

Understanding Evolution This site was created by the University of California Berkeley and offers some great information about evolution. It is very easy to navigate and offers teaching tools for many different age groups. It also offers an option to sign up for e-mail updates about current news that relates to evolution.

I'll post some old blog posts from my myspace below that discuss some of our first Darwin Day celebrations with our kids. This year, I had hoped that we could take a weekend trip to Seattle and visit the Pacific Science Center. They currently have the exhibit Lucy's Legacy through March 8. Wouldn't that be a GREAT way to celebrate Darwin Day??? Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it is going to work out for us to go.


January 31, 2007
Last year was our first year to celebrate Darwin Day. I didn't receive the books I ordered in time for Darwin Day, so we looked up some information on the internet and I told my kids a very simplified version of what evolution is.
On Darwin Day, I planned a nature hike with my kids. It is a little cold in Spokane for this, but we bundled up :) Our goal was simply to observe nature. We talked about the fact that Darwin loved to observe nature and that is why he was able to discover clues that led him to his theory of evolution.
We had ordered "The Tree of Life" and "Our Family Tree" last year, but they didn't arrive until a few days after Darwin Day. As we read them, I encouraged the kids to think of questions they had. So, when they began coming up with questions, we would research answers on the internet. Lastly, we noticed that our library did not have a book about evolution for children. So, as part of our celebration, we ordered an extra copy of "Our Family Tree" and donated it to our local library. This year we'll have to go and see if it's still there :)

I don't have any specific plans yet for this year's celebration, but I did order a couple of new books to help with this years Darwin Day. So, we have now added "Life on Earth" and "Darwin & Evolution for Kids". They're both great and I've found quite a few fun activities in "Darwin & Evolution for Kids." I'll have to post another blog once I get a plan together for our little family celebration :)


February 15, 2007
We ended up having a great Darwin Day celebration with our kids! I combined some ideas that I got from Agnostic Mom with some ideas of my own.

Agnostic Mom celebrates over a 7 day period. I wanted to extend the celebration beyond one day, but I thought 7 days might be a bit much for my kids. So, we decided to have a 3 day celebration. Instead of discussing one animal group each night, we combined some animal groups.

We were supposed to start celebrating on Saturday Feb 10, but other things came about and we had to postpone. So, we started our activities on Sunday and ended them on Tuesday. Our first activity was to make our own family tree. We talked about everybody as we placed them on the family tree and noticed differences and similarities between ourselves and our family members. We decided that it would be silly if everyone was the same and it's nice to have differences. That night we had crab and salmon. These represented some of the first things to evolve on the Tree of Life.

The next day, we had chicken for dinner with a side dish of dinosaur Ritz crackers and some mint green cookies for dessert. This night was our night for reptiles and birds. Our activity after dinner brought about much excitement! and I had found a book about Triceratops that included information about how paleontologists study bones. It came with a little dig site. So, we all worked together to dig out our Triceratops' bones and then we pieced it together. We took this opportunity to discuss how Darwin came to the conclusion that life evolved and how scientists need evidence to back up their claims.

For story time that night, we read the book, The Tree of Life by Ellen Jackson. This was our best night of the celebration because we could tell that it was really starting to make sense to our son. He had so many questions and ideas while we read the story...he was exhilarated.

On our final night, we had pot roast for dinner with banana cream pie for dessert. I showed the kids a series of pictures in my Biology book that displayed evolution occurring in a population of insects. As we looked at each picture, we tried to guess which population of insects would survive and which would struggle. For our final activity, we made a Tree of Life. I had printed out pictures from each of the groups of animals that we had talked about. Then, we drew trees and the kids had to figure out where each animal's place was on the Tree of Life. They had a lot of fun with it and we ended our celebrations eating banana cream pie and the story, Our Family Tree by Lisa Westberg Peters. It was a great time.

I think as they get older, we will focus on smaller topics during our celebration. Right now, they are just getting some basic knowledge. But, when they're older, it will be fun to look at the evolution of horses, dogs, etc. Agnostic Mom also mentioned that she was thinking of a new activity this year involving paint and mixing colors. We may have to try that one out next year. We are having a lot of fun with our new family celebration and look forward to future Darwin Days !



I hope these resources will help anyone who is interested in having a Darwin Day celebration of their own. I want to offer a challenge to everyone. For Darwin Day this year, learn something new about evolution or teach someone else something about evolution. What a great way to celebrate science and humanity!

New Releases

I am *so* excited!! Studying for my licensing exam, job applications, job interviews and unfortunately a death in the family have kept me from my regular internet activities. And to my surprise, I discovered that a book I've been eagerly waiting for is being released early! YEAH!

As soon as this came to my attention, I went straight to Amazon to place my order. The book is Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief. If this book is half as good as the first book, Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion, I will LOVE it.

These books address the issues where atheists may differ from theists in the subject of raising children. Some of these subjects include: death and dying, values, holidays, living with religion, meaning and purpose, wondering and questioning, etc. It is very difficult to do things differently from one's parents. I was raised by fundamentalist Christian parents who thought that James Dobson wrote the best parenting books. I felt like I was starting from scratch and had to question every reaction I had when I became a parent...I often still do. Is this reaction reasonable? Why do I feel that their actions were wrong? Is that a good reason? I couldn't rely on the answers I was given when I was a child. No...thunder and lightning is not happening because god is bowling. I had to figure out a way to explain these things in kids terms so that I was giving a real answer. If I don't know an answer, which happens a lot, we look it up together. Reading how others have dealt with similar situations has been very helpful to me. I have referred to my PBB book many times and I'm sure I'll do the same with Raising Freethinkers.

I should also add that the feeling that I was starting from scratch was not only because of my change in views on religion. My sister and I had our first children 1 month apart. She is a Christian and she also has her Master's degree in Social Work. We both do things very differently from our parents and have relied on one another for advice and ideas. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that we both have degrees in Psychology and have learned better behavior modification techniques than what our parents used. For example, neither of us spank our children because we know that the science just doesn't back it up as an effective form of discipline. This change was challenging for both of us, but we've helped each other find research on different methods of discipline and other parenting issues. My non-belief compounded my feeling of starting over and it's nice to have these books available....kind of like having another sister to talk to ;)

While I was at Amazon, I also ordered 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God. I've heard the author, Guy Harrison, interviewed on many of my favorite podcasts and have been anxious to read it. The other book I ordered is Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became one of America's Leading Atheists. Now that I'm finished with school, I should have more time to read the books I want to read. I'll call these my early Darwin Day presents ;)

Happy Birthday

I had wanted to put a list together like Edwin Kagin did, but didn't find the time. You should go check his post from December 22.

As I wrote on my blackboard this morning,

Happy Birthday to:

Horus 3000 BCE,
Osiris 3000 BCE,
Attis of Phyrgia 1400 BCE,
Mithra of Persia 600 BCE,
Dionysus 186 BCE,
Tammuz 400 BCE,
Adonis 200 BCE,
Hermes,
Bacchus (crucified in 200 BCE),
Prometheus,

and...

last but not least....


Jesus of Nazareth somewhere between 8 BCE & 6 CE



Merry Mithrasmas everyone! I hope you have a wonderful day whether you celebrate at this time of year or not.

Happy Solstice Everyone!

Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the reason for this celebration season. Most cultures have held a celebration at this time to acknowledge rebirth and many of our current symbols have been adopted from ancient cultures. I find it fascinating to learn about how different cultures have celebrated this season and hope to pass that curiosity on to my kids.

Beginning after Thanksgiving, my son's class learned about different cultural celebrations around the world. Each child made a passport and they pretended to travel to other countries. Not only did they learn about the holidays that these cultures celebrate, they also made the country's flag as an art project and wrote a recount about what they had learned as a writing project. I have been really impressed with my son's teacher this year.

As I've looked through his projects, I've been excited to see that he is learning about cultures other than his own. Since my kids were tiny, we've read them stories about Hanukkah, Ramadan & Eid ul Fatr, Kwanzaa, and ancient solstice celebrations. We wanted them to see that all people have different beliefs and different ways of celebrating. There is no such thing as the "right" way to celebrate or the "wrong" way to celebrate. We need to appreciate each other's differences.

Some of our friends and relatives were offended by this. They were appalled that we were teaching our kids to be tolerant of other cultures. Not only that, we weren't teaching our children that our way is the right way and those other people are wrong. This makes me wonder how other parents might react to their children bringing home projects about other cultures. Does the teaching of other views threaten them? Or are most of them as thrilled as I am that our kids are learning things in elementary school that we didn't learn until we were adults?

We celebrate Christmas every year simply because that is what our families celebrate. For me, that is what the holiday is about...family, friends, caring for others, helping people out. In a time that could be depressing because of the hours of darkness, these are the things that help us overlook the darkness. We look beyond our differences and come together to celebrate.

I am lucky to have a very tolerant family. My mom & sister are quite religious and were surprised when I first told them that I was an atheist. However, that has not changed the way that they treat me. We are able to look past the differences we have and find common ground. Actually, it's amazing how many things we do have in common and it's quite easy to overlook our religious differences. They are respectful of us and the way we raise our children and we are respectful of them. We all realize that disagreements do not equal attacks or disrespect.

I guess that is why I find it sad that many people see the holiday as a time to fight over who is right or wrong. There is no such thing as a "War on Christmas" in the real world...it's all in peoples' heads. Each person may celebrate how he/she wishes. When someone celebrates differently than someone else, that does not mean they are attacking that person. If I like white bread and you like wheat, am I attacking you when I eat white bread? How ridiculous!

My hope is that one day people will realize that our differences make the world more interesting. Just because I am not like you, does not mean that everything I do is an attack on you. Celebrate the differences....don't be afraid of them.

Finally finished!

I feel free! Yesterday, after what felt like a never-ending period in my life, I graduated from nursing school! I don't know what to do with myself :) There are no papers to write, no diseases or disorders to study, or skills to practice! I can actually read what I want to read :) Now, I just need to pass my licensing exam and I will officially be Humanist Mama, R.N.

Unfortunately, my busiest time in school coincided with a big uproar across the nation about a holiday display in my own state's capital. I'm not going to write a huge post about this because everyone else already has. But, I figured I should put my opinion out there since I am actually a resident of the State of Washington:)

First, there was not an issue in our state until a couple of years ago. I am not clear on the reason, but Governor Christine Gregoire decided to display a Menorah alongside the capital's holiday tree in 2006. A citizen then petitioned to display a creche and was denied. Last year the Alliance Defense Fund, a religious right legal group, sued the state of Washington on behalf of that citizen. In the settlement, it was agreed that there could be no discrimination when it comes to displays in a government building. So, a member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation asked the foundation to help her by posting an atheist sign in our capitol building identical to the one they place in Wisconsin's capital each year. They petitioned for it and they were allowed to put up the display.

Now personally, I think it would have been much better if the state had just been able to remain neutral...no religious displays allowed. But, since they weren't, then atheists have every right to put up their own sign. It is called freedom of speech. It may not be the display I personally would have chosen to put up, but I support their right to display it.

I've had many Christians tell me that they support freedom of speech. But oddly enough, I didn't hear an uproar from Christians when Bill O'Reilly spewed his hate or when the sign was stolen from the capital building. The Freedom from Religion Foundation has since decided to post a reminder next to their display proclaiming, "Thou Shalt Not Steal." Oh, the irony.

Hmmmm....is it that most Christians only like free speech when it's speech they agree with? If that's the case, then they need a wake up call....one does not support freedom of speech unless one supports speech he/she does not agree with. If you are a Christian and you truly do support freedom of speech, then your voice needs to be heard. Otherwise, people only hear the extreme Christian position and believe that all Christians feel the same way.

On the other hand, I read via Dale McGowan's blog, The Meming of Life, about a church's drive through nativity scene being destroyed in Georgia. What is wrong with people? This is deplorable and I hope that they find who did it. In the meantime, Dale has posted a link to send an e-mail of support to the pastor of the church. They need to know that this was unacceptable. As an atheist, even though I don't agree with their message, I support their right to display it. I hope they are able to put it back together quickly.

Maybe what needs to be learned this holiday season is tolerance for views other than one's own. If we want peace on earth, it's going to take more than just saying it. We need to speak out against intolerance and stand by our Constitution's Bill of Rights. In some cases, people need to recognize their own intolerance of others and make a change. Each little change will lead to a big change. Stand back, take a look, make a change. WE have to make the difference...it's not going to happen on it's own.

My road to atheism Part 3

My son was born during finals week of my last semester of college. My husband's parents, my mom, and my grandma all traveled across the mountains to Missoula to greet my son when he was born. It was an exciting, unforgettable day. We moved back to Spokane two weeks later and I settled in as a stay at home mom. Eighteen months later, my daughter was born and we had another celebration at the hospital with all of the family. Even my son came in the middle of the night with Grandma to meet his new sister.

As a mom, I've experienced every emotion: love, fear, happiness, sadness, worry, pride...the list goes on. It's an indescribable feeling to realize that your baby is totally dependent on you. I was confident I could take care of my kids' physical needs. As they've gotten older if I have questions about parenting, I'll do some research and look for the best methods for my kids. If something doesn't work, I'll look for something that might. I just wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing for my kids....I did not want to screw them up:) It didn't take long to realize that nobody is a perfect parent. However, I promised myself I would do my best.

I know that many people turn to religion when they have children. But, I honestly don't know exactly why this is. Perhaps people who went to church when they were little feel that church is a requirement in childhood. Or maybe some people correlate church with a moral upbringing. I don't know what the feeling is because I never experienced it. In fact, I had quite the opposite experience.

My instinct was to shelter my children from church. Not because I had terrible church experiences when I was little, I didn't. I have fond memories of going to church on Sundays and seeing my friends. Rather, I wanted to shelter them from the ideas that church puts in young minds. Our belief system is right.....everybody else's belief system is wrong......you are a sinner.....if you are not saved by Jesus, god will torture you forever in hell. I wanted my kids to grow up to be tolerant of everyone....and church tends to do the opposite. As one Christian told me, "tolerance is bad".

By this time in my life, I didn't accept a literal translation of the Bible. I had learned enough to realize that many of the stories just didn't make sense logically or scientifically. I thought that maybe everybody in the world was worshipping the same god....we just didn't know it :) That allowed me to account for the different belief systems in the world, and in my mind it exonerated everyone from hell....except for the really bad people of course. This didn't quite add up though. If we all worshipped the same god, why were so many wars fought over religion? Why was everyone so hateful towards people who believed something different? Not to mention the many discrepancies one finds between different religions....if we all worshipped the same god, I think there'd be more similarities than differences.

Then, when my son was 9 months old to the day, we woke up to a phone call from my in-laws. They told us to turn on our TV. The United States was being attacked. I remember feeling numb that day. We had a doctor's appointment for my son and the lobby was silent. Everyone was focused on the TV. It turned out that some commercial planes had been hi-jacked and flown into the World Trade Center. The pilots were Muslims and thought that they were doing what god wanted them to do....they believed they would be rewarded in heaven.

Until that point, I don't think I realized how strongly people believe in other religions. These men truly believed that Allah wanted them to do this terrible thing. Their belief was so strong, that they died because of it. I recalled being told some time ago that this was one of the evidences for Christianity....the early martyrs would not have died for a false belief. Well, if that were true, did that make Islam true? They couldn't both be true because they had teachings that contradicted one another.

OK, well it was time to delve back into the research I had started in high school. After reading Josh McDowell's book, I had not dug deeper even though I had not been satisfied. I think I had been a little scared of what I would find when I was in high school. I just needed to decide where to start. I had two young kids and my time for reading adult literature was extremely limited....almost non-existent. Well, in every other situation, I would examine both sides of a story and see which side made sense and had evidence to back up the claims. If I had not been exposed to new religions, cultures and ideas, I may not have thought to do the research. But, I knew that there were many religions in the world and one's beliefs tend to be highly correlated with their location of birth.

Since I had been raised as a Christian, I knew what the basic beliefs of Christianity are. (I say basic beliefs because there are many different denominations and each has its differences.) So, I decided to look into why people did not believe in the Christian god. Luckily, we live in the age of the internet where information can be found at our fingertips. I quickly found The Secular Web and its library along with many other sites....some good, some not so good.

My first shock came when I found out that some people were not certain whether Jesus even existed! As my heart raced, I thought to myself that this was totally ridiculous, but then I looked at their arguments. The Jesus I had read about in the gospels had many followers...wouldn't there be some other record besides the gospels to account for his existence? Then the shocks kept coming....The gospels authors are not known? The gospels were written decades after Jesus' death....how could they be eyewitness accounts? Wait a second....there were other gods with stories similar to Jesus? There were other "miracle workers" in Jesus time? The more I learned, the more I was blown away. Nobody had told me this in Sunday school!

I read the arguments from the side of the non-believers and I understood why they didn't believe. So, then I needed to look at what Christians answers to these questions were. There had to be some good explanations, maybe some of the claims of these non-believers were not accurate. Surely, the Christian answer would include some good evidence. However, none of the rebuttals I found did that. OK, this was getting scary. My curiosity was overtaking me and I wanted to learn more....but the more I learned, the more my beliefs in god were fading away. Things that I had thought were proven truths....were nothing but stories.

I finally came to the conclusion that the best I could say was, "I don't know if any of it is true". This terrified me...I like to be in control and know exactly what is right and true. But, the evidence just wasn't there. Oh. My. God.(figuratively speaking :))!!!! What was I going to do? It seemed like everyone had a religion. I needed to find a religion to hold on to. I couldn't follow Islam or Mormonism because their stories seemed silly. Wait a second, every religion I looked at seemed silly. Of course, some seemed sillier than others, but I didn't find any that offered me anything that I couldn't have without religion.

Pause....do I needreligion? What would I be if I didn't have a religion? What box would I mark on the surveys when they ask for your religion? I had been marking the Christian box all my life....even when I stopped going to church and didn't believe in the literal Bible. My identity was falling apart....could I be an atheist? NO...I couldn't be!

I searched the term atheism for the first time. As I typed it, it felt like I was doing something wrong. Atheism had been ingrained in my brain as a bad word....those were bad people. Well, the only way to find out was to see what atheists had to say. And it turned out that the atheists I found, felt the same way I did about religion! They just didn't believe that any of the religions were true. They weren't Satan worshippers, they weren't claiming that there was absolutely no god....they just didn't believe in any of the gods that other people believe in. And it hit me.....I was an atheist! I couldn't put my finger on an exact moment when it had happened, but it had happened.

I was free!! Free from a stifling belief in a god who watches everything you do and listens to every thought in your head. I no longer needed to wonder what god's reason was for allowing things to happen in my life....it was just life. And life was so much more precious because it was the only one I'd have. Wow....what a feeling!


***Disclaimer****

Given that this is written in story form, it may seem that events occurred more closely together than they actually did. However, my searching did not take days or even months. This was a very long process because I wanted to look at all angles. I was searching for truth and that is not something that I take lightly. I continue to educate myself about these things today and read articles and books about all different religions. My mind has not been closed....it was opened when I began to consider that my religion may not be true.

Dilemma?

First, I do realize I haven't finished my de-conversion story. I will get to that soon....things are just a little crazy right now.

As I am nearing the end of nursing school, everyone is asking where I want to work. It seems that the standard place to start is in a hospital, but I'm not sure that that is where I want to be. My ideal job would be at a Planned Parenthood or free clinic. However, I'm looking in to local hospitals, simply because I know they hire new grads and that may be the place I need to start.

I thought I had decided which hospitals to apply to...until I saw one of their websites today. The first thing one is assaulted with on the website is a box entitled Death with Dignity?. For those of you who are not from Washington, voters recently passed a Death with Dignity initiative by a large margin. It is almost identical to Oregon's in its stipulations. The person who seeks a lethal prescription must be deemed terminally ill with less than 6 months to live. I believe that this has to be determined by a minimum of 2 doctors....but I'm not positive. Then, if they choose, they can request a lethal prescription from their doctor which the patient would have to administer if and when they choose to. Doctors are not required to prescribe these prescriptions if they choose not to.

Ok, so I went on to read the article on the hospital's website. It says, "Providence Health & Services will not support physician-assisted suicide within its ministries. Our ministries will not provide lethal prescriptions to patients." It's not really surprising because it's a Catholic hospital. (I wonder if they allow their physicians to prescribe birth control?)

But, now I have a dilemma. Do I really want to work for a company that will not allow their doctors to make their own choices on this matter? I think it should be up to each individual doctor. I admit...I do not know what type of contract these doctors are under with the hospital. I know many of them have their own practices...would this hospital be upset if they prescribed a lethal prescription in their private practice? I really don't know enough about the politics of the hospital to understand the ramifications. But...now I'm really not sure I would want to work at either of the two hospitals in our city that are run by Providence. That puts a huge limitation on my choices.


What to do, what to do......





Oh, and just for fun, you can go to the hospital's website and take their online poll about whether the death with dignity initiative is ethical :)