Ingnorant Christer FAQ answered

Universal Soldier

American atheists reflect the political spectrum of America. Most are moderate, with some on either end. Since the religious right wing have taken control of conservative politics in this country, however, and turned their theocratic wet dream in to official government policy, you find fewer and fewer atheists willing to identify as conservative, lest they be mistaken for a member of the American Taliban.

These were countries that had a history of totalitarian oppression (Tsarist Russia, Imperial China) or foreign colonialism (Imperial and pre-revolutionary China, Korea, Vietnam.) Under such conditions, the dreams of communism and socialism seem like good ideas to the huge majority of the people. Because religion has always been a tool of the state and an instrument of solidifying and excusing the ruling elite, Karl Marx spoke strongly against religion in establishing the doctrinal basis for communism and socialism. As a result, the coming of communism and socialism brought with it an official policy of atheism. So it is not that "all atheist countries are dirt poor"; it is that dirt poor countries are generally more likely to embrace communism, which is officially atheist.

In other words, you have cause and effect backwards.

As others have pointed out, it is because so many "loving believers" feel it necessary to vandalize cars displaying such symbols. However, I suspect that you are not bothering to actually look around.

As for being poor, I work as a computer programmer for a brokerage firm, and I have a successful business preparing and officiating at non-religious weddings and other ceremonies. I paid more than $11,000 in federal taxes for 2004, I drive a newish (2003) Honda Civic EX and I will be vacationing in England this summer (my sixth vacation to Europe in the last decade.) By what standard would you call me "poor"?

According to the American Religious Identification Survey of 2001 (link below), there are an estimated 902,000 people in the United States who identify as atheist, about 0.4% of the population. When you add in the people who identify as agnostic, humanist, secular and as having no religion, there are about 27,486,000 non-religious people living in the US, representing 14.1% of the population, almost one in seven Americans. That is hardly "few."

As for why are we ignored, it is because we lack the ideological blinkers and doctrinal drive that has made the right wing theists so adept at organizing and buttuming control of government. We are organizing, however, and will soon be strong enough to overthrow the theocrats who are making a mockery of the principles upon which America was founded.

The vast majority of atheists, like the vast majority of Americans, value human life. We would much rather see that there are no unwanted pregnancies; to that end, we advocate *medically accurate* love education, correct information on the use of contraception and having such contraception easy to obtain. We also believe that end should be a matter choice, not a matter of government policy.

"Undesireables?" Your bigotry shows why so many gay people refuse to have anything whatsoever to do with the likes of you. -- Gregory Gadow

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it." -- Pres. George W. Bush, Hypocrite, his inauguration speech, 2005