I just tossed off a quick note to the “God Squad” column (”How to keep faith when grandpa’s a vocal atheist“) in NewsDay (NY/LI) which I’ll share here:

Once again, your column spreads anti-atheist slander — this time, in your “How to keep faith when grandpa’s a vocal atheist”, where you claim that “without God, most kids never learn that they have been put here to serve others, not just themselves”.

And which study indicates this? I do know of studies that atheists are highly underrepresented among convicted criminals, but none which indicated that those raised atheist are less other-directed, compassionate, or altruistic than those raised, say, Baptist. In fact, my experience is just the opposite — that those raised as atheists tend to be more reflective about their moral place in the world, and as a result, often embrace highly moral perspectives, and manage to overcome many prejudicial dogmas of the society around them.

Imagine people’s reactions if you had instead said “without Jesus, most kids never learn that they have been put here to serve others, not just themselves”? Of course, you wouldn’t say that. And not because the evidential status of that claim is so different; but because you — and most other in our society — understand how offensive that would be to the millions of Jews, Muslims, and others in our society. But you obviously don’t think the godless among us deserve the same respect and courtesy.

I guess this kind of puts the lie to your earlier claim that it’s prejudice against people of strong faith that’s the last remaining acceptable prejudice in the culture.

Addendum: I was just reminded (by Brent of the always-worthwhile UTI) of a piece I linked a couple of years ago that’s worth another look in this context: The really excellent talk by science writer Natalie Angier called “Raising Children With Secular Values In A Religious World“.