Predjudice in School towards atheists

[kılıç_mehmet]

Hello fellow debaters and defenders of Atheism, My name is Adam, (ironic I know).
I am a teenager that lives in a southern rural town. In my town, of only 4000 people, there are twenty-three different churches. As you can tell it is a town pretty much based on religion.
I, myself, am an atheist for my own reasons that I will save for a different thread. Being an atheist openly and proudly in this town isn't easy, I’m bullied at school, looked down on by most adults, and worst of all, not taken seriously in any discussion.
I believe that if had said to the kids at school that I actually had a religion, be it even Buddhism they wouldn't care and would leave me alone.
So my question is this, what is it about atheism that puts people up in arms, although they stay neutral and find it offensive to poke fun at an actual "religion."

And why, friend?
Have you ever asked them why they bully you?