Between a Church and a Hard Place: One Faith-Free Dad’s Struggle to Understand What It Means to Be Religious (or Not)

Read Andrew Park's post on the Penguin Blog.

Stumped when his children start asking questions about God, a lifelong nonbeliever takes a colorful and thought-provoking tour of religion in America.

At age thirty-six, Andrew park hit a parenting snag. Teaching his children about ethics, good manners, and the perfect free throw posed no problem. But when they started asking about religion, he came up empty-handed. He was raised faith-free in a household of nonbelievers. Confronted with the responsibilities of being a young father, park knew it was his place to find the answers to his children's questions about spirituality-and perhaps some of his own. Between a Church and a Hard Place is the often funny, yet deeply tender story of that quest.

Though Park and his wife are not religious, Between a Church and a Hard Place doesn't so much struggle with God as it struggles with whether to struggle with God. From megachurches to Humanism Seminars, Park explores the polar reaches of religion in our country while trying to find a comfortable middle ground for himself and his family. With the perfect blend of humor and humility, he uncovers what it means to embrace religion-or not-while still being a good role model, and most important, still being true to himself. In the spirit of Father Knows Less and Foreskin's Lament, Park's story is a captivating exploration of parenthood, and the beliefs that shape our culture.

Andrew Park is a former correspondent for BusinessWeek, whose work has also appeared in The New York Times, Wired, Slate, and other national publications. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with his wife, Cristina Smith, and their two children.