I saw a billboard the other day. It had a picture of Jesus with the words written thru it "Just say NO! to Religion".. and it was put there by some Atheist Society.

So.. to say that atheists have no agenda is a bit disingenuous.

Some atheists are too confrontational for my tastes. I recognize that religions are here to stay for the foreseeable future, and that the best world we can achieve is one in which we all tolerate and respect each other.

That said, I've yet to hear of atheists going door to door trying to "deconvert" the religious, whereas that's a frequent (and often lauded) behavior for the religious to practice.

I've yet to hear of a political race in the US where the candidates are encouraged to talk about their non-beliefs to boost their chances of winning, as opposed to talking up which one is the more eager to embrace the Bible.

I've yet to hear of a case where American atheists pushed to get science written into church sermons, and have Bibles covered with stickers noting that the notion of Biblical creation is just a myth, whereas it's quite common for groups to agitate for the reverse on science textbooks in public schools.

Religions are like the air that one breathes in this country; it's ever-present, and it's hard to escape it. It's a veneer laid over many of our holidays. It's in the lexicon. It's printed on our money. I can't turn on NPR, one of the so-called bastions of liberal humanist radio programming, without at leas ta fair chance I'll get some segment talking about religions, and the beliefs of Christianity in particular.

So you can perhaps understand why some atheists have zero sympathy for whatever outrage or irritation that billboard may have caused you, and indeed, would laud it giving the experience of the very thing that most atheists encounter on a daily basis. How's it feel to know that someone not only thinks your beliefs are nonsense, but wishes your beliefs would go away, be replaced by their own?

--FY