Because most are born into a strict religion and it’s ingrained

Because of decades worth of brainwashing and tactical lying on the theistic side.

No true believer would be threatened by my lack of belief, or yours. The hypocrites kicking up this fuss are confused idiots who usually don't even know what an atheist is. But they hate us anyway, because.... stuff.

When was the last time a theist expressed criticism of atheism that was both accurate and a valid point to make about the "dangers of atheism"?

As the French like to say: "America is a country. Europe is mature". Church-goers have dwindled in number, in Europe.They are dwindling here too. But not at the rate they have in Europe. This is probably because America has always been viewed as a refuge for people of strong, religious beliefs.

Atheist are what is called, "value-threateners." to jesus-lovers. If we live peacefully and happily, it causes jesus-people to have cognitive dissonance. Therefore, they have to dislike us and say we are wrong and bad, to "fix" the conflicting thoughts in their head.

My take is that religion is handed down in families at a very young age. Children learn that following the family's beliefs is reinforced and is emotionally rewarding.

Anything that challenges the comfort zone is always negatively.

What Goonie said. Americans are afraid of everything.

Kudos to the "New Yorker" for breaching this touchy subject. As for the "Lack of belief in God is still too often taken to mean the absence of any other meaningful moral beliefs, and that has made atheists an easy minority to revile." I would think many people looking at so called religious morality would be really concerned the road that, so-called morality, has led. Again, as I and many others have said, there nedds to be a change in vocabulary. Atheist still has too many bad connotations and too many people are still rooted in the past. The iint's group hoping to address this is "The Brights". [the-brights.net]

That's a good question... The Bible Belt is real among other things that eventually will be removed from society. It's a slow process, it will take more generations to get there but it will

People talk about atheists with terms like "he/she doesn't believe in God" as if the existence of god is assumed and atheists choose not to believe it.

Thanks for the link.

"The Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized religion is growing, according to an extensive new survey by the Pew Research Center. Moreover, these changes are taking place across the religious landscape, affecting all regions of the country and many demographic groups. While the drop in Christian affiliation is particularly pronounced among young adults, it is occurring among Americans of all ages." This is encouraging information. However, with approx. 70% of Americans being affiliated as Christian, that leaves a lot of people who would be uncomfortable with Atheism.

Addicts are always uncomfortable with non-addicts in their group.

Hmm... Posts about discomfort with atheism, username is fourth largest religion--what with everyone wanting to know "how to convert to PDF"...

Sorry not sorry. Low-hanging fruit...