Why do atheists get singled out like this?

[Theistsbane]

I think its undeniable that we have a P.R. problem. First of all, you're going to get mistrust from what is the vast majority of the world's population. Simply because we believe something contrary to, like it or not, something that is inextricably intertwined with our entire civilization. Its extremely difficult to wage such a culture war against something so fundamental to who and what we are. What we profess, unashamedly, is nothing less than a radical point of view in regards to conventional thinking for most of human civilization. We all know this. We all understand that this is going to be slow to change. Second, I think the term "atheist" is too imprecise to describe any one of us. They already think "atheist" means "nihilistic hedonist communist, with no exceptions", which they're told to think. We all know that they think morals come only from a god and consequently we have none. We can offer several philosophies that many of us employ, but they would still reject them all for lack of a deity. Regardless, our philosophies are too widely varied to offer any real conformity in our atheism, which is also important to them. Third, even though all religions in America talk behind each other's backs, they all like to play the game of "at least we believe in something" and work very hard at appearing to show mutual respect and at least being polite and nice to each other's faces. However, the most vocal and loudest of us, the celebrity atheists like Dawkins and Hitchens, are not polite and nice. They are confrontational and often condescending. I act the same way. I'm not saying we should back down, far from it, but it doesn't help win any hearts or minds. These are some of the reasons why I think we're singled out.