Hey Kate, not sure the piece was fair re: Vanessa and me. My feelings aren’t hurt but I’m thinking of what message you’re sending to others. Yeah, I get it that having a job as an atheist isn’t “normal,” but most people who write don’t do it for a full time living, and *you’re* definitely still normal! I mean, I hope you don’t think either Vanessa or I really think that much about atheism all the time. She and I just really wanted to be clergy– we like the mix of responsibilities it offer better than we would for being teachers, professors, counselors, social workers, or working for other kinds of non-profits. But we weren’t willing to lie and say we believe in God in order to take a job as a rabbi or minister. So here we are. Yes it’s unusual, but our day-to-day is just listening, talking, organizing, supporting, writing, thinking, counseling, etc.
Also, re: raising your kids as an atheist– very cool. A lot of parents struggle with that, with knowing how to do it “right” (not that there could ever be one right way to do that or anything else). So we’re creating a curriculum which focuses on bringing together the best insights in childhood development out there right now, adds in interfaith/religious literacy, service, valuing and protecting the earth (we’re working with Karenna Gore, VP Gore’s oldest daughter and a fantastic person, on that part), and of course a bit about being an atheist and/or being raised by atheists and getting to experience what it’s like to have a like-minded *community* of atheists and Humanists.
Anyway, I suppose I’m not making my case very well if I want to say this is all “normal” but it does hurt…both personally and more importantly, it can hurt what we’re trying to do– which is normalize atheism!– to have our jobs poked fun at as ‘abnormal’ by good writers like you, before you get to know much of anything about them.
So I invite you to get to know more about it. We’d love a little more support!
-Greg
PS: A “normal” atheist character on TV in the sense of someone who just happens to be an atheist while living a normal, everyday life? Piper of Orange is the New Black. Check it out: https://www.facebook.com/events/391415241028312/
AUTHOR: Greg
AUTHOR EMAIL: greg_epstein@harvard.edu
AUTHOR URL: http://humanisthub.org
SUBJECT: [Kate Cohen] Contact
IP: 76.119.232.77
Array
(
[1_Name] => Greg
[2_Email] => greg_epstein@harvard.edu
[3_Website] => humanisthub.org
[4_Comment] => Hey Kate, not sure the piece was fair re: Vanessa and me. My feelings aren’t hurt but I’m thinking of what message you’re sending to others. Yeah, I get it that having a job as an atheist isn’t “normal,” but most people who write don’t do it for a full time living, and *you’re* definitely still normal! I mean, I hope you don’t think either Vanessa or I really think that much about atheism all the time. She and I just really wanted to be clergy– we like the mix of responsibilities it offer better than we would for being teachers, professors, counselors, social workers, or working for other kinds of non-profits. But we weren’t willing to lie and say we believe in God in order to take a job as a rabbi or minister. So here we are. Yes it’s unusual, but our day-to-day is just listening, talking, organizing, supporting, writing, thinking, counseling, etc.
Also, re: raising your kids as an atheist– very cool. A lot of parents struggle with that, with knowing how to do it “right” (not that there could ever be one right way to do that or anything else). So we’re creating a curriculum which focuses on bringing together the best insights in childhood development out there right now, adds in interfaith/religious literacy, service, valuing and protecting the earth (we’re working with Karenna Gore, VP Gore’s oldest daughter and a fantastic person, on that part), and of course a bit about being an atheist and/or being raised by atheists and getting to experience what it’s like to have a like-minded *community* of atheists and Humanists.
Anyway, I suppose I’m not making my case very well if I want to say this is all “normal” but it does hurt…both personally and more importantly, it can hurt what we’re trying to do– which is normalize atheism!– to have our jobs poked fun at as ‘abnormal’ by good writers like you, before you get to know much of anything about them.
So I invite you to get to know more about it. We’d love a little more support!
-Greg
PS: A “normal” atheist character on TV in the sense of someone who just happens to be an atheist while living a normal, everyday life? Piper of Orange is the New Black. Check it out: https://www.facebook.com/events/391415241028312/
)