Lyrics from Randy Newman's song "Old Man" demonstrate the lessons he learned from his father, who was an atheist: "Don't need no god to comfort you, you taught me not to believe that lie."

During a hospital visit, Newman's father pointed at the patients in a children's ward and lampooned the idea of a benevolent and merciful deity: "That's God's will over there and that's God's will over there and that's God's will over there…"

"I never had faith," says Newman. "But I have respect for the idea. There's no joy being an atheist."