Picks and Pans Review: Do Children Need Religion?

UPDATED 07/26/1993 at 01:00 AM EDT Originally published 07/26/1993 at 01:00 AM EDT

by Martha Fay

In a book only a baby boomer could read (or need), Fay, 47, tackles an issue many contemporary households avoid. Turning to the experts, single mother (of Anna, 10) Fay finds scant discussion of religion in the classic child-rearing texts. Her friends, for the most part, sidestep the issue. And this is the problem: In a country where religion plays such a primary—and often incendiary—role, Fay seems to confine her research to an elitist minority. Few of the faithful present their points of view, while pages and pages are devoted to those who view religion from a disbelieving distance. Though the writing is eloquent, the subject significant, in the end most readers will be tempted to echo the sentiment of one little boy who, rather than join this pedantic debate, concludes, "Mom, some people think too much." (Pantheon, $23)

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