Discrimination of atheists

[Dystopia]

Why are atheists so discriminated in the USA? I'm curious about the reasons, in Europe there may be some discrimination but it doesn't reach the same proportions. Isn't the USA a secular country with no religious affiliation?

And why do some people, even agnostic theists or others without any religious affiliation, get so surprised when someone says 'I am an atheist'?

[Broseph Ballin]

Because we're all devil worshipping baby eaters. Duh.

[Jenny A]

Because we're all devil worshipping baby eaters. Duh.

That or the fact we don't believe troubles people who are little doubtful themselves.

[SteelCurtain]

Because a lot of Americans have preconceptions of what an atheist is. We are immoral, satan-worshipping, soul-less, depressed, we have nothing to be happy about, and we are liars and thieves and rapists because we have no one looking over our shoulder. And the pulpit is proffering these preconceptions.

[Cinjin]

Isn't the USA a secular country with no religious affiliation?

Who in the HELL told you that?!?!!

[SteelCurtain]

It's supposed to be...

[CindysRain]

Why are atheists so discriminated in the USA? I'm curious about the reasons, in Europe there may be some discrimination but it doesn't reach the same proportions. Isn't the USA a secular country with no religious affiliation?

And why do some people, even agnostic theists or others without any religious affiliation, get so surprised when someone says 'I am an atheist'?

Secular? hock:

About 75% believe in god here. Saying you believe in god automatically makes you morally superior.

Doesn't matter that many of their morals would cause our atheist morals to blush.

[Angrboda]

Dominion Theology or Dominionism is the idea that Christians should work toward either a nation governed by Christians or one governed by a conservative Christian understanding of biblical law. At least under this name, it exists primarily among Protestants in the United States. It is a form of theocracy and is related to theonomy, though it does not necessarily advocate Mosaic law as the basis of government. Prominent adherents of Dominion Theology are otherwise theologically diverse, including the Calvinist Christian Reconstructionism and the charismatic/Pentecostal Kingdom Now theology and New Apostolic Reformation.

Some elements within the mainstream Christian right have been influenced by Dominion Theology authors. Indeed, some writers have applied the term "Dominionism" more broadly to the mainstream Christian right, implicitly arguing that that movement is founded upon a theology that requires Christians to govern over non-Christians. Mainstream conservatives do not call themselves "Dominionists," and the usage has sparked considerable controversy.

(Dominion Theology)

[Dystopia]

Why are atheists so discriminated in the USA? I'm curious about the reasons, in Europe there may be some discrimination but it doesn't reach the same proportions. Isn't the USA a secular country with no religious affiliation?

And why do some people, even agnostic theists or others without any religious affiliation, get so surprised when someone says 'I am an atheist'?

Secular? hock:

About 75% believe in god here. Saying you believe in god automatically makes you morally superior.

Doesn't matter that many of their morals would cause our atheist morals to blush.

Well I'm not an american, in my country there is a 70% percentage of Catholics but we are still secular and discrimination is illegal

[SteelCurtain]

How 'bout the Quiverfull movement? Movements like this are certainly part of the issue.

Missionary effort
Quiverfull's principal authors and its adherents also describe their motivation as a missionary effort to raise up many children as Christians to advance the cause of the Christian religion.[2] Its distinguishing viewpoint is to eagerly receive children as blessings from God,[2][4] eschewing all forms of contraception, including natural family planning and sterilization.[5][18]

Majority Doctrine
Quiverfull authors such as Pride, Provan, and Hess extend this idea to mean that if one child is a blessing, then each additional child is likewise a blessing and not something to be viewed as economically burdensome or unaffordable. When a couple seeks to control family size via birth control they are thus "rejecting God's blessings" he might otherwise give and possibly breaking his commandment to "be fruitful and multiply".[2][18][23][24]

Charles D. Provan's 1989 The Bible and Birth Control is credited as strengthening the theological justification for the Quiverfull movement.
Accordingly, Quiverfull theology opposes the general acceptance among Protestant Christians of deliberately limiting family size or spacing children through birth control. For example, Mary Pride argued, "God commanded that sex be at least potentially fruitful (that is, not deliberately unfruitful).... All forms of sex that shy away from marital fruitfulness are perverted."[18] Adherents believe that God himself controls via Providence how many and how often children are conceived and born, pointing to Bible verses that describe God acting to "open and close the womb" (see Genesis 20:18, 29:31, 30:22; 1 Samuel 1:5-6; Isaiah 66:9).[2][25] Hess and Hess state that couples "just need to trust God to provide them with the perfect number of children for their situation."[2]

Their website is full of gems:

"The Pill is used by about fourteen million American women each year and sixty million women internationally. Thus, even an infinitesimally low portion (say one-hundredth of one percent) of 780 million Pill cycles per year globally could represent tens of thousands of unborn children lost to this form of chemical abortion annually. How many young lives have to be jeopardized for prolife believers to question the ethics of using the Pill? This is an issue with profound moral implications for those believing we are called to protect the lives of children."

Can you imagine attending a wedding where the family of the bride prayed for her to have vast legions of children who would grow up to have dominion in the land for the glory of God? This was precisely the blessing offered by the sisters of Rebekah upon her marriage to Isaac. These sentiments beautifully harmonize with Scripture passage after Scripture passage which extol the virtue of trusting the Lord to control the womb and the necessity that believers be fruitful and multiply. For six-thousand years, believers viewed children as a blessing and reward of the Lord greatly to be desired. It was widely accepted that those who cut off their seed usually did so in violation of the express commands of God. Only in the last seventy-five years have child prevention and birth control become acceptable in the Church. Perhaps more than any other philosophical shift in the history of the Church, the modern anti-child philosophy has changed the way we view the role of fathers and mothers as well as the meaning of family life and multi-generational faithfulness. But genuine questions persist: Does the Bible address the question of child prevention? Is cutting off the godly seed ever an act of good stewardship? Are economic considerations a valid biblical ground for closing the womb? What about natural family planning? What about families that cannot have children? Is the widespread use by Christians of the pill, a child prevention device with abortifiacient potential, bringing judgment on the Church? Be Fruitful and Multiply answers these questions and makes the case that Christians should do more than just trust God for children, we should cry out to the Lord to bless the fruit of the womb. Foreword by Doug Phillips.