Why do you think atheists pay so much attention to religion?

[Angrboda]

I don't know what my original response to this was, but I likely have a better answer now. The reason is 'branding'. Atheists and theists compete in the same market, and the tried and true method for gaining market share is effective branding. Of course branding of your product is intimately tied to, and of necessity responsive to changes in your competitor's branding of their product. It's simple marketing, played out in both diversification of image and branding (manyfold flavors of Protestantism, and jostling in the non-theist brand between weakly or strongly positioned products, etc), and clustering around similar "types". (For a more thorough exposition of the marketing angle from the religion side, read by James B. Twitchell .)