I got my ethical foundations from my family but also from the secular humanist university milieu I grew up in without a hint of religion or god in that context. During the Cuban Missile Crisis I wrestled with the possibility of nuclear war, my own mortality, and was I destined to go to hell if there was a god which I was not believing in. For me, that concern did not change the “facts on the ground”, in the sky, in the heart, or in the laughs of children, where other people might feel the presence of a deity. (more…)

I was in fourth grade in 1963 during the Cuban Missile Crisis when there was apparently a real possibility of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Somewhere in that timeframe I became aware of this possibility, probably as a result of TV news coverage and a couple “Duck & Cover” exercises led by my teacher in my elementary school classroom. For those of you too young to remember these exercises, you were spared a fearful experience of powerlessness and contemplation of the abyss. For me, it was my first confrontation with my own mortality, possibilities for an afterlife and the existence of god. (more…)

Molly was the “girl next door” (actually across the street) in my life and, most significantly, my best friend from age three to seven. At the time I did not understand how important this relationship would be to me in shaping my adult life, even though I saw Molly only once after age eleven. As a parent, I have also seen how my son Eric benefited from a similar relationship with a girl who lived across the street and became his best friend for several years.

Molly and I were comrades of the soul. We played pretend astronauts and soldiers and created innumerable adventures together. We always had the spot next to each other at each other’s birthday parties, no matter how many other kids were there. There was nothing that divided us. (more…)