What Do I Have To Do To Get A Secular Education Around Here?

The twins have pretty much worn me out. They are both sick again with runny noses and congestion. Atticus will not sleep through the night- always up at least once. Nevertheless, i shouldn't complain because the wife has to take care of them 24/7 and I get a vacation when I go to work.

Lolo is going to the Montessori school. I take her to school in the mornings. The wife is very concerned about Lolo going to the Montessori. I like it mainly because it is a secular education and I know the teachers well. I would rather my 3 year old daughter learn about how the world works and develop life skills than learn about Jesus. I think she should be given the opportunity to make up her own mind about what her spiritual life should be. At the age of three she does not yet have the capacity to understand and make her own decisions about something as complex as spirituality.

I attended a christian day school from Kindergarten to sixth grade and I turned out ok. I remember having to memorize bible verses every day in 5th and 6th grades and the teacher would call on each student and make him or her recite the verse from memory. Nevertheless, my education did not brainwash me and I felt like I got a pretty good education but I can't help but wonder how much more I could have learned if I weren't spending time learning about something that I don't consider important at this stage of my life.

I just want my daughter to grow up to be able to think for herself and to be critical of what people tell her and what she sees and reads in the world.

The little town I live in has a fair share of public schools which in my opinion are lacking when it comes to a private secular education. Being that this is the bible belt there are plenty of christian elementary schools. There are NO private secular schools besides the Montessori. For me, this really, really is a negative point to living in this small town.

The wife wants to send Lolo to the same elementary school that I attended. I am hesitant. The wife is uncomfortable with the Montessori method so far. I believe that it is mainly because she was raised with very traditional values. Damn, for that matter, I was too. My parents took me to Sunday school and church very regularly. My views on religion changed drastically when I was in my mid 20s and now I have absolutely no desire to attend church. My wife on the other hand feels the draw.

This is one of the areas of our marriage that needs work. It is going to be resolved by me attending church with her against my will. I will do this if that is what it takes to keep my family as one cohesive unit. Hopefully I can be there to help my children keep an open mind.

In this part of the US of A you can't blow your nose without hitting a church. Practically everything revolves around churches. The only thing that I miss about being active in a church are the social aspects. Damn, most of my first sexual experiences were with the girls in my church youth group!!! Well, of course i miss that but on a more mature level, I miss getting to know other successful business people and members of my local community.

So I guess i will suck it up and go to church and blow an hour sitting there listening to music I really don't like and hearing stories that I really don't believe (dead men raising from the grave, floods that cover the entire earth and one of each species fits on a boat) and giving money to a cause that I consider to be backed by a fairy tale.

So in case you haven't figured it out, I am agnostic. This means to me that I believe that a higher being can be neither proved or disproved. I believe that accepting the bible or any other religious text simply because it is there and other people accept it is painting too simple a picture of the real world. I believe that prayer and church attendance is a waste of my time. I believe that a person can be raised with a secular upbringing and still have a solid foundation of morality, integrity and a profound sense of right and wrong. I belive that f there is a higher being then it certainly doesn't control every aspect of my life- I have an internal locus of control.

I could go on and on but to summarize I am a lonely conservative infidel in a sea of people who accept religion without question and you can't get away from it- especially if you marry into it. Fortunately, although the wife is a believer, she has a healthy skepticism of devout believers.

If I didn't despise cold weather I might move elsewhere where there are more secularist minded individuals. I don't know if my conservative mindedness would allow me refuge there or not. I am a rare conservative agnostic capitalist. I don't think there are very many of us out there. If you are like me I would love to hear from you!!