Wondering about Atheist Programs for Children

[KevinSim]

Do atheists have programs like this for their young children?

Kevin, your pretended naïvety is charming.

Morley, why do you think my naïvété is pretended?

Substitute other identities into that sentence and see if you can see why the question might be offensive.

Do Catholics have programs like this for their young children?
Do Muslims have programs like this for their young children?
Do Black folks have programs like this for their young children?
Do Jews have programs like this for their young children?
Do Italians have programs like this for their young children?

Your examples don't help. It's crystal clear why asking blacks would be offensive, and why asking Italians would be offensive. Catholics, Muslims, and Jews, not so much. I made the assumption that an atheist might not want to send her/his children to a Latter-day Saint Activity Days due to ideological differences. If that assumption is wrong, just tell me so. That would have been a perfect answer to my question. No need to take offense. Similarly, a Catholic, a Muslim, or a Jew might not want to send her/his children to a Latter-day Saint Activity Days activity due to ideological differences. What's so offensive about asking a Catholic, a Muslim, or a Jew if their faith organization has some kind of activity for children?

[KevinSim]

Is it impossible for a devout Latter-day Saint (like me) to just be curious how atheists find productive activities for their children?

In the context of your opening question, tell me what you mean by, ‘productive’.

Canpakes, I'm pretty sure I meant anything that isn't destructive. Perhaps I could have used better words, but that is what I meant.

[KevinSim]

If you had asked, "Do gay parents have programs like this for their young children?" might that have been considered either hopelessly stupid or despairingly bigoted?

Yes. I'm kind of leaning towards hopelessly stupid.

And if that's the case, wouldn't it be just as bad if you asked a similar question about atheists?

Not at all. There's no good reason to think gay parents have any ideological differences with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is, on the other hand, some reason to expect that atheist parents have ideological differences with that church.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Kevin,

I know you’re catching a little flack right now, but I’m curious enough about your lived experience to inquiry as follows:

1) How much of your life have you lived outside of the Utah bubble? My apologies if you’ve talked about this before and I missed it.

2) Historically, how would you describe your access to a variety of people from different, non-LDS, backgrounds? Like, in your personal and professional lives, what would be the percentage, more or less, of non-LDS people in your life where you got to know and spend time with them on a fairly deep level (enough to know of their views, hopes n’ dreams, perspectives, etc)?

- Doc

[Morley]

There's no good reason to think gay parents have any ideological differences with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is, on the other hand, some reason to expect that atheist parents have ideological differences with that church.

I made the assumption that an atheist might not want to send her/his children to a Latter-day Saint Activity Days due to ideological differences.

Your opening post had nothing to do with Idealogical differences or atheists attending LDS activities. You're disingenuously adding that now.

Here's your OP:

The first and third Wednesday of each month my grandson (who my wife and I are raising) enjoys going to Activity Day for Boys, an hour of playing games in our church's cultural hall with a dozen boys roughly his age, facilitated by two adults who do a pretty good job of finding fun things for them to do. Do atheists have programs like this for their young children? I'm aware that the Unitarian Universalist Church often functions as a sort of church equivalent for atheists, so maybe there are programs for kids through them. Is there anything else?

[doubtingthomas]

…Do atheists have programs like this for their young children? I'm aware that the Unitarian Universalist Church often functions as a sort of church equivalent for atheists, so maybe there are programs for kids through them. Is there anything else?

We don’t label their foreheads, so I’m not sure how many atheists, agnostics, and/or believers we actually have, but i’m on the Library Board in my small town, and we have a full schedule of activities. We do way more just try to find fun things to do for an hour twice a month, though. Here’s a sample of non-religious activities we have:

Once a month we have Lego night for kids and parents

A lot of universities are in small towns. You may be a professor of statistics after all, but how do you have the time to be a professor, a full-time DiscussMormonism poster, and a librarian?

Henderson, NV?

[Res Ipsa]

We don’t label their foreheads, so I’m not sure how many atheists, agnostics, and/or believers we actually have, but i’m on the Library Board in my small town, and we have a full schedule of activities. We do way more just try to find fun things to do for an hour twice a month, though. Here’s a sample of non-religious activities we have:

Once a month we have Lego night for kids and parents

A lot of universities are in small towns. You may be a professor of statistics after all, but how do you have the time to be a professor, a full-time DiscussMormonism poster, and a library?

Henderson, NV?

Marcus is a library in Henderson, NV? We really do have an amazing community of people. And at least one building.

[doubtingthomas]

Marcus is a library in Henderson, NV? We really do have an amazing community of people. And at least one building.

Yes, a library of extreme feminist nonsense.

[Marcus]

On a library board =/= librarian.

[doubtingthomas]

On a library board =/= librarian.

I knew you were going to point that out, I swear.