I am a Jew and first generation Canadian. My parents were holocaust survivors who abandoned god when their families were killed by the nazis. Both my parents spoke several languages but the household language of choice has Yiddish. They would speak to me in Yiddish and I would answer them in English.

I married a woman who is a fourth generation Canadian of Irish-catholic descent. As a child, her father would drag the family to church every Sunday. But then he had a secular epiphany – golf – and putting replaced prayer. Today, the sum total of religion in my wife’s family consists of a rapid, mostly incomprehensible, grace before meals.

My wife and I are atheists. There is no hint of religion in our home. After our children were born we started buying a december christmas tree and we purchased a hanukkah menorah that we would light for one night and usually forget for the requisite remainder. We view these as cultural, not religious, icons.

There has never been any religious or cultural conflict in our home before the children were born or since. We have two wonderful teenage daughters. They couldn’t be more dissimilar from one another. Continue reading →