Since religion and atheism are often debated here, I thought this article might interest you guys. It's always astonishing for us Europeans to hear about anti-atheist discimination in the States, because here in France, for instance,except for muslims, atheism and agnosticism are the norm and it is usually catholics who hide their beliefs in conversations.

http://www.examiner.com/article/science-says-atheists-should -come-out-of-the-closet-for-their-own-good

The indoctrination in the majority of believers runs so deep many cannot take even a single step back, to look at their religions from "outside", to ask themselves how much they would accept of these teachings if they had not been drilled into them when they were far to young to realize they were being brainwashed. It is in large part due to this that so many "fear" atheists. Ironically, since they think atheists are such because they, the atheists, are "misinformed", the fear springs from believers being themselves misinformed about atheists.

I'm out.  It's caused considerable strife in my family, but they didn't reject me.

Now one of my neices is calling herself an atheist (although she still believes in heaven, just not God, go figure).  This got laid at my feet.  I protested, because I have never spoken to my nieces or nephews about my atheism - I figured they'd ask someday, and I'd answer.

"Well, she must have gotten it from someone."

Why?  I didn't.

Unfortunately, when we start inventing gods to explain the unexplainable, we all too quickly begin building hierarchies and power structures. And not just for the gods. Churches, in virtually any faith you would care to name, very quickly turned, after their creation, into instruments for controlling the populace. Consider how many Christian churches, for example, actually usurp the power of the God they claim to follow, giving to themselves the right to punish and condemn "in his name". Consider how deeply churches involve themselves in the politics of the nation. (It is all too often forgotten that the Founding Fathers, here in America, dictated a separation of church and state in order to protect the state from the church, not the other way around.)

Various faiths become so ingrained in their cultures that people are often unaware of when they are making their presence felt. The simple reflex of saying "God bless you" when someone sneezes is an example of hundred of years of programming. When someone suggests "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings" would be more inclusive ways of expressing cheer at the ending of the (artificially dictated) year, there are those who will spring forth to "defend Xmas" from this "attack". (Even the use of Xmas causes great consternation in some quarters, the fact that this was an early Christian abbreviation, and not something created to "take Christ out of Christmas" being forgotten.)

The overwhelming theme of religion in all its forms is enforced ignorance. Once people have been brainwashed into "believing", and thus thinking their faith provides ALL the answers (and if they cannot find them, it's their own fault!), they stop asking questions. For centuries in Europe, the dominating Catholic church murdered countless people for daring to ASK QUESTIONS. Questions, unfortunately for the power structure of the Church, invariably led AWAY from the mind numbing opiates of religion.