Raising Good Humans Without God: A Secular Parenting Survival Guide

Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

Jo Piazza, Influence Inc.

Society & Culture, Parenting, Kids & Family, Personal Journals, Technology

4.3 • 787 Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What happens when your kids start asking the Big Questions—about death, morality, and the meaning of life—and your only answer is... "I don't know"? This week we sit down with the anonymous duo behind The Family Skeptical podcast—two parents raising their children without religion in a world where Christian values are increasingly entangled with politics, community, and parenting culture. They dive into what it means to teach critical thinking instead of catechism, how to build moral frameworks without ancient texts, and why parenting without a religious script often requires a lot more work—and a lot more imagination. From Star Trek to Christmas movies to Greek mythology, this conversation explores how secular families are inventing new traditions, new values, and new ways of saying “I don’t know” with confidence. This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt envious of the ready-made community that comes with religion, but still wants to raise kind, curious kids—without the dogma. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What's Siegel in Spanish Granddad?
0:03.0	El... Seagull.
0:06.0	And what's a beach ball?
0:08.0	El Beach Bowl.
0:09.0	What about a sunbed, Dad?
0:11.0	El Sunbed.
0:13.0	Retirement planning with Aviva can help make priceless family holidays possible.
0:17.0	You're really good at Spanish, aren't you, Grandad?
0:20.0	I'm pretty much a local, love.
0:22.5	From insurance to wealth and retirement, we can help solve life's financial puzzles. Making a click,
0:28.6	it takes a Viva.
0:34.7	I'm getting to a really strange point in my parenting journey.
0:39.0	My kids are asking a lot of tough questions about what happens when we die.
0:44.2	And being a person who is not religious, raising a family that is not religious,
0:48.2	these questions are kind of hard to answer.
0:50.3	I'm jealous of the people who have a built-in answer for these questions, even if it's not the answer that I agree with.
0:58.0	I also find myself increasingly jealous of the built-in community, moral frameworks, and ready-made traditions that religion provides.
1:07.0	Today we're talking to a set of parents that we're going to call mom and pops.
1:10.1	They don't use their real names because they don't want their family to be attacked online, and I get it.
1:14.4	I'm here for that.
1:15.8	The two of them have a podcast called The Family Skeptical, which I'll drop an episode of in our feed in the next couple of weeks, where they talk about raising two boys in a secular household.
1:25.4	They talk about how critical thinking has replaced catechism
	...

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