How did a son of Republicans Ronald and Nancy Reagan become an “unabashed atheist”? And how did the parents take that?
My first recollection of Ron was as an 8-year-old called “Skipper.” He seemed a reasonably obedient kid. But later he displayed a consistent independent streak — dropping out of Yale University after one semester, for example, to become a dancer with the Joffrey Ballet. After watching a performance, President Reagan wrote in his diary that Ron reminded him of Fred Astaire.
“I was 10 years old or so when I concluded that the [Bible] story told to children had little more validity than stories about Santa Claus, another white guy who knows what you’re thinking and can punish you,” Ron Reagan told me.“If he’s sufficiently displeased with what you’re doing, he will send you to a dark corner for eternity while your family goes to a nice place. It doesn’t take a budding Einstein to realize there are some problems with this.
Ronald Reagan was governor then, but the family usually spent weekends at their home in Pacific Palisades. On Sunday mornings, a highway patrolman would drive them in a limousine to the Bel Air Presbyterian Church, where the pastor was Donn Moomaw, a former UCLA All-American football lineman and Reagan family friend.“I was 12 when I told my father I wasn’t going anymore,” Reagan recalled. “I said I didn’t want to be hypocritical, disrespectful and fake it.
Later in life, his dad “occasionally would take a run at it and circle back,” Reagan said. “‘Are you still …?’Ron continued: “Dad was happy in life to believe in what he called ‘the man upstairs.’ He was unapologetic about his beliefs, but not showy about it like some politicians, constantly crowing about how faithful they are. He never wore his faith on his sleeve.”
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