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One of the advantages of writing a book about being a parent is that it gives you an opportunity to make use of all the stories you've been collecting on your children ever since the moment they were conceived. In Between a Church and a Hard Place: One Faith-Free Dad's Struggle to Understand What it Means to be Religious (Or Not), I ranged widely in my exploration of the history, sociology and psychology of religion. But I must admit that subject that was most enjoyable was my kids' thoughts on faith. Their spiritual musings were a bottomless well of material for me as an author, and I returned to it again and again as I wrote. For two years, I compiled these adorable anecdotes on my computer desktop, peppering my wife for minute details I couldn't remember while imagining the joy and laughter they would produce in my dear readers.

You can imagine my disappointment, then, when the following conversation was overheard in October, after my manuscript was already complete. My son, who is seven, was sitting on the floor of the den in our home, playing with a toy truck. His 5-year-old sister, sitting idly nearby, was muttering under her breath, until he stopped her. "I know what you're doing," he said , irritated. "You're praying for me to play animals with you. Quit praying." But she refused, without actually denying that she was seeking divine help getting her big brother's attention. "I'm just praying for people to be good, but it never works," she said. "That's because God isn't real," he lectured. This from a child who had talked openly about believing in the Man Upstairs since he was a toddler. Now it was her turn to testify. "Yes he is," she replied. "God is everywhere. He's just dead."

The other night, as we celebrated the release of Between a Church and a Hard Place with a steak dinner Cristina had prepared and a chocolate cake from Whole Foods, my children asked if they were in Daddy's new book. I said they were, but that I had chosen not to use their names. When they're old enough to read it, they might be embarassed or uncomfortable with what I've written. The least I could do is to allow them a bit of anonymity, I said. But in truth, I don't really want them to be anonymous. I want to write about them. The things they say are funny and revealing and freaking cute. Actors are advised never to work with animals or children in case they get overshadowed. But when it comes to my kids, I don't mind being upstaged.

Andrew Park, Between a Church and a Hard Place, religion, atheism, Penguin, Avery, books