Respect atheists!

A magazine I read not so long ago contained a letter to the editor in which there appeared a list of different religions, or perhaps I should say belief systems, because atheism was one of them.
What struck me was that all religions were printed with a capital letter, except atheism. Isn't that a give-away! Whoever wrote that article obviously did not think much of atheism. You may think a Freudian slip if ever there was one. But it is not really, because the Oxford dictionary also does not have an opinion of atheism high enough to award it with a capital letter.

So the person who wrote that letter was merely well educated.
Still it must be quite devastating for atheists to be so lowly thought of.

In America several polls have indicated that the term "atheism" has acquired such an extraordinary stigma that being an atheist is now a perfect impediment to a career in politics (as a black, Muslim or homosexual you have a better chance). According to a recent Newsweek poll, only 37% of Americans would vote for an atheist for president no matter how well qualified.
A remarkable 87% of the population claims "never to doubt" the existence of God; fewer than 10% identify themselves as atheists and their reputation appears to be deteriorating.
Although 87% of the American general public believes in a personal God; yet 93% of the members of the National Academy of Sciences do not..
Obviously the way scientists think is not compatible with religious thinking.

So what really is an atheist? According to the internet:
1. Atheist are a technical death metal band from Florida, USA, founded in 1984, whose music combined brutal riffs with subtle Latin music arrangements and elements of jazz.
This article is not about them
2. Very simply: Someone who denies the existence of god.
There are many famous people that are atheist, although not all of them admitted that fact publicly, but here is just a short list of some you may not have expected:
Abraham Lincoln. Helen Keller, Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Alfred Hitchcock.

Another question frequently asked is can an atheist live a moral life?
The moral standards of an atheist are prescribed in Humanism. And if you are not familiar with the Humanist philosophy, go to Wikipedia and look up Humanism, you'll find it a list of pretty good standards to live by.
And it may be worthwhile to point out that the motivation for living a good life for an atheist is not a fear of eternal

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