Pupils could learn about atheism in RE. Brilliant - about time.

For a short time - and very much against my will - my eldest was in a C of E school. At one point, she asked me what I though God would think about something or other, and was totally scandalised when I told her that I didn't believe in God. "But Daddy," she said, "you have to believe in God. You're not allowed to not believe in God and the baby Jesus." I told her that she shouldn't let anybody tell her whether to believe in God or not, nor in which God to believe. Not me, not her mother, not her teachers, nobody. She should make her own mind up.

Now, she seems to believe in God about half the time, and not the other half. Which is just as it should be for a seven year old, I'd say.

Me, I'm an Atheist, and I have been for as long as I can remember. It's just the only thing which makes any sense to me. Any kind of God seems to require more of an explanation than It/He/She can provide. (And just don't bring up Pascal's Wager. Just don't.)

But I'm not a Dawkinsite. I admire the man as a scientist, but I don't actually believe that religion is a positive source of evil as he seems to do. For me, religion is mostly morally neutral. Good and bad people behave as they wish, regardless of their religion or lack or it. Good people can find rationale in their religion for doing whatever it is they would have done anyway, yes. But then, people seem to be able to use religion as a rationale for anything.