Useless comment.

But Christians *are* expected to contribute to secular schools, its called taxation.

How do you know his previous works were more 'academically dense' than this one, which you have not read? You are assuming its not up to snuff academically because it says something positive about religion. This comment betrays the atheistic bias that appears to inform your entire worldview.

If you are truly interested in answering these questions, perhaps you should spend less time typing walls of text, and more time reading the book. But based on the pseduo-intellectual posturing displayed on your blog, I doubt that will happen. Its pretty obvious that your atheistic presuppositions prompted you to dive right into your 'critique' the second you heard that this work said something remotely positive about relgion. In short, we are all dumber for your comment. But again, based on your blog, that appears to be par for the course.

Who knows maybe he could not get published through them

Lol! I'm like the witch in "Hansel and Gretl" fattening up the little Atheist children in my gingerbread house! But wait! I die at the end of that one! Never mind. That's no good. I'll be a nice gooey old lady who likes baking and overindulging my favorite small children. :)

Thanks for your persistence. I know I'm supposed to agree with all that. But I'm someone who sent my children to a summer camp run by Mennonites. I thought: "How much dogma could possibly come up in five days with kids this age?" I was totally wrong. My younger one asked his Dad if we believe in the "P" word because the counselors said it doesn't exist. It took awhile but we finally got to "Purgatory". :) I get that we are helping them financially with their camp (though for what they charge, they may want to augment the bottom line with a raffle or two), but almost one third of the campers were Catholic, so we're infiltrating! Jesus didn't hang out with Christians. If we limit ourselves to our own religions (or not religions) we'll never get anywhere.

I am not teaching them there is no god; my friends are.

You are helping to provide funding.

I am answering the way I think Germain Grisez would answer based on May one support charities sponsored by non-Catholic religious bodies? which says, in part:

. . . I believe it is clear that one should not support non-Catholic charitable activities commingled with partly false religious instruction—for example, a summer camp program for indigent children that will include evangelization and catechesis partly at odds with Catholic faith. Though one might intend only the genuine good the program will do, one’s contribution will support the inculcation of error as well as truth and inevitably will suggest that the doctrinal content of the religious instruction is a matter of indifference. This is likely to lead people astray.

I recommend reading the whole thing.

If my friends asked me to buy the ticket I probably would say "no" for the very reasons you give. But I'm not going to do that to their child; it seems petty and confusing.

Might your contribution, given through the child, indicate to the child that you have no problem with what he or she is being taught in the school? I understand what you are saying, but if Catholicism and teaching children about God is important to you, why would you rather "be nice" than stick with what you believe in? There are other ways to be nice. You could say, "I am afraid our Church disagrees with what your school teaches, so we can't participate in the raffle, but why don't you come in for some freshly home-baked chocolate chip cookies, some chocolate cake, some cream puffs, some canolis, some Haagen-Dazs ice cream, an Almond Snickers Bar, and a glass of chocolate milk?"

I am not teaching them there is no god; my friends are. I disagree with my friends, but that is something I can take up with them as we are capable of that kind of intellectual and philosophical discussion. If my friends asked me to buy the ticket I probably would say "no" for the very reasons you give. But I'm not going to do that to their child; it seems petty and confusing. And the fiscal viability of Atheist Elementary shouldn't be riding on raffle tickets. When that child is older and wants a different perspective I can be there to provide it.

Which, while I disagree entirely about God, I would put aside out of love for my friend and his children. It's a raffle ticket, not an endowment. :)

If you loved your friend's children, why in the world would you financially support—even in a small way—teaching them there is no God? It seems like you think belief in God is not very important.