Not Teaching About Religion Favors Atheism

I appreciate the article ``Santa Claus Isn't Comin' to Town,'' Dec. 19. I agree with the quote from Rabbi Arthur Starr: ``I don't care if you teach about religion, as long as you don't teach religion. That's why people came to this country in the first place: freedom of, and freedom from, religion.''

However, one point is missed in discussions about separation of school and religion. I consider atheism essentially a religion comparable to those conventionally considered - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, etc. Thus, deleting teaching about any religion actually favors atheism! Schools should teach about religions. Robert A. Brown, Reading, Mass.

Reading Dickens: a family tradition

Every Advent season our family reads out loud ``A Christmas Carol.'' The author of the opinion-page article ``A Dickens of a Story, if You Read It,'' Dec. 15, is right - Charles Dickens was a master with the written language.

We don't have the problem of choosing which media version to watch. There is no television here. Elizabeth Hanson, La Farge, Wis.