I think religion is like a rain storm and atheism (or agnosticism) is like an umbrella. In a gentle rain your umbrella serves you well and keeps you dry. And the rain may even do some good to the land, like charity work etc. But in a thunder storm your umbrella may not keep you dry and lightning could still strike you. What I think we are seeing now, with the current strength and power that the religious right holds in America is like a hurricane. Our umbrellas are less than useless. We need to batten down the hatches and huddle together and hope that when it blows itself out we can rebuild a better America. But there is work to be done while the hurricane is still raging. It is tiring but someone has to do it.