I am a mother and a Christian. I monitor my daughter’s email and saw that you recently sent my daughter [name] an email encouraging her to “think about” cher Christian values which is just a slick tongued way of tempting her to turn her back on the Lord. My daughter is 15 and still a child. She relies on her parents for moral guidance and should be free from the machinations of a child preditor such as yourself. I can only imagine where you would have tried to lead [name] if I had not been there! She should have told me immediately when you contacted her and she has lost her computer priviliges for two weeks. If you continue to harass her or attempt to contact her in any way we will inform the police. I will pray for your soul.

Madam, I have no idea who your daughter is. I receive a great amount of correspondence through my IAmAnAtheist Web site and blog, and most of it is either anonymous or signed with a screen name. I don’t know the age of most of the people I correspond with, and frankly I feel that anyone old enough to write to me with an intelligent question is old enough to receive an honest answer. These aren’t toddlers asking whether Santa exists.

I encourage all people -- religious or not -- to think carefully about their beliefs, and frankly I think you should, too. How is your daughter supposed to resist temptation and know right from wrong if she is not confident to her core in her own religion?

I must be very clear here -- I didn’t contact your daughter, she contacted me. And to be further frank, if she lives in a house hold where inquiry into the religious beliefs of others gets her two weeks of lost computer privileges, then no wonder she is asking questions behind your back. You might do better to give her a little freedom now rather than trying to keep her bottled up and risking a full-scale rebellion when she’s old enough to head out on her own.

I appreciate your offer of prayer but, frankly, I think you need to use them at home first.