America to stay "One nation under God"

[Weltall]

This is pretty much correct. Though religion is only one of many reasons that Americans feel like they're better than everyone else, not the only one.

Religious people close minded? Many are. Not all. If you can say 'I know that there is no proof and that all the evidence points towards an ordered universe run by laws that has existed for we don't know exactly how long, etc, but I think that in some way there is a deity that has influenced how it progressed/the laws of nature/etc', then it's more reasoned. But if it's 'God created the world'...

And it is an absolute fact that religion makes it a WHOLE lot easier to not think. They tell you how to think and you listen! That's how most religion works. Makes things really easy for the people... thinking is hard, after all! It's a LOT easier to not think than it is to think.

That's kind of taking the holier-than-thou approach, classifying us as morons, essentially, who are told what to think and believe it. Of course, if it were that simple, there would be one religion and one denomination of it. Obviously, that's not so, and there is much, much debate about aspects of religion within religions, to say otherwise is foolish.

Of course, it is also worth noting that it is very easy to deny everything out of hand, and doing so doesn't make you any freer a thinker than I am. After all, everyone's beliefs, no matter what they are and what subject they cover, is without exception based, to varying degrees, on someone else's ideas and concepts. Implying that we are sheep is straight hypocrisy. Just because non-believers are a minority doesn't make their beliefs more legitimate.

What you athiests need to realize is that you are a minority. And because of that, you will be subjected to things you may not agree with. That is the essence of BEING a minority, in absolutely any sort of category you please. As I said, I don't care if you choose to believe whatever you believe, but I think you people are pushy and arrogant too, and frankly, there is nothing other than the absence of a deity that seperates atheism from religion. Christianity has it's bad people, no doubt. Most Christians dislike the Pat Robertsons of the world. But the atheists who militantly devote themselves to the eradication of God in every aspect of public life are in every way as rotten and evil.

What I'm trying to say is: Believe whatever you want. Most people believe differently, and they have the same right to be as open about it as you people are. Respect that. And get over yourselves. You're no better or more advanced than anyone else.