The ability to question everything is one of the best things about being raised non-religious.

OPINION: Growing up atheist makes you a better person.

That's the view of Californian sociologist Phil Zuckerman's research, as detailed in his Los Angeles Times piece.

His argument, based on several studies from the last five years, is that those who grow up without the fear of a god instilled in them are more tolerant, less worried about conforming and being accepted as "cool", and less likely to be racist, sexist, or homophobic.

I feel fortunate not to have grown up with religion. I'm not an atheist, but rather, agnostic: I can't completely say "there is no God" but you'd never catch me trying to argue there was an invisible man in the sky, either. I was raised believing in science, and the science isn't there to support religious faith.

I don't believe religion is bad. But I believe it can be used for bad.

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A close friend, raised Catholic, recently explained his views on the subject to me. "Religion is a way to back up who you are as a person," he said. "So if you're a good person, you'll use religion to explain why you're good. If you're a hateful person, you'll use religion to justify your hate."

For this reason I'm on board with Zuckerman's point of view (and, naturally, the numerous studies that back it up). I don't think it's fair to raise kids with religion.

A secular upbringing, Zuckerman believes, gives children a better value of what's right and what's wrong because their moral compass is rooted in understanding, rather than fear of punishment.

"Non-religious family life is replete with its own sustaining moral values and enriching ethical precepts," he wrote.

"Chief among those: rational problem solving, personal autonomy, independence of thought, avoidance of corporal punishment, a spirit of 'questioning everything' and, far above all, empathy."

The ability to be critical and question everything, I too believe, is one of the best things about being raised without religion.

To have the ability to not trust what you're told, and instead, find out what's true using your own intellect and means, can result in you being an adult that never takes anything at face value.

This is of incredible value – especially today as we can't be too careful about what we read, hear, and see: we live in a world that has succumbed to fake news and unwarranted bias, after all.

The key benefit about my upbringing as a non-religious person, however, has been empathy.

Religion can be used to give grounds for a person's moral judgement of others. It can prevent them from seeing other sides to a story, or understanding the plight of another, simply because that experience isn't within their doctrinal experience.

Empathetic reciprocity, or "treating other people as you would like to be treated", Zuckerman writes, requires "no supernatural beliefs".

You can become a good person without religion simply by understanding how others feel. You can take into account that they may be different from you in background, race, sexuality, intelligence, and beliefs, but not use any of that as reason to judge them, disfavour them, or segregate them.

Arguably, there are people within certain religions that are tolerant and accepting. But as my friend explained to me, that's probably not because they're religious, it's probably because they're tolerant and accepting people to begin with. Their beliefs only strengthen that.

Furthermore, isn't it more valuable to be a good person based purely on what you can objectively see as the "right" way to treat others, rather than needing to be told that you'll be punished in an afterlife if you don't subscribe to that approach to others?

Democratic, secular countries such as New Zealand, Zuckerman points out alongside similar nations such as Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, and Japan, have some of the lowest violent crime rates in the world whilst enjoying very high levels of societal wellbeing.

In the US, non-religious people actually commit far fewer crimes than religious people: Federal Bureau of Prisons statistics point out that atheists are less than one percent of the nation's incarcerated population.

Enforcing a God (and subscription to his canon) upon the young and impressionable can harm them, rather than help them. It can take away their autonomy and help them only to become carbon copies of their parents.

And if those parents are hateful, bigoted, or intolerant, all that's doing is putting more people like them into a world that doesn't need it.