This is excellent news and we are all very excited to have Dale McGowan on board.

Dale McGowan edited and co-authored Parenting Beyond Belief and Raising Freethinkers, the first comprehensive resources for nonreligious parents. He writes the secular parenting blog The Meming of Life, teaches nonreligious parenting seminars across the United States, and serves as executive director of Foundation Beyond Belief, a humanist charitable and educational foundation based in Atlanta. In September 2008 he was named Harvard Humanist of the Year by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University.

I’m in the middle of reading his first book right now, because my wife is pregnant with our first. The topic of how to raise a child from a secular standpoint is intriguing. What do we do about Santa and the Easter Bunny? Do we encourage religious literacy? Are there secular versions of the community-oriented benefits associated with some religions? What do we do to prepare our child for what they are likely to hear at school?  These are all questions that are covered in great detail in Parenting Beyond Belief. It’s a collection of essays from many notable authors and entertainers like Richard Dawkins, Margaret Downey (Also in our lineup), Dan Barker, Penn Jillete, and Julia Sweeney.

As far as his other big project, the Foundation Beyond Belief has already begun to make a real difference. From our e-mail correspondence, Dale writes:

So far in 2010, our first year of operation, our members have donated over $72,000 to 37 charities around the world.

That’s amazing. Especially considering they just launched this campaign this year. Dale introduces us all to the Foundation Beyond Belief in this well made YouTube video:

As with all of our guests, you can expect regular updates and spotlight pieces from us.