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.

At age thirty-five, Andrew Park hit a parenting snag. Teaching his children about ethics, good manners, and how to shoot a free throw posed no problem. When they started asking about religion, he came up empty-handed. Raised in a faith- free family where teenage rebellion meant being born again as an evangelical Christian (as his brother did), Park always believed he'd be a nonbeliever. (And his lapsed Christian wife thought the same.) But when his children ask if God is real, he knows it is his responsibility to try and find the answer. Between a Church and a Hard Place is the often funny yet deeply tender story of that quest. It follows the author as he tries to reconcile his upbringing with the demands and liabilities he faces as a young father. He realizes with alarming clarity that if he doesn't provide some answers, someone else gladly will.

As he searches for middle ground, Andrew Park addresses the hot- button questions surrounding faith and freedom and explores the polar reaches of religion in America. Along the way he uncovers what it means to embrace faith-or not-while still being a good role model, and more important, still being true to himself.