1) Why do you think there needs to be a atheist genre for novels? Why not just write the novel and if it happens to have atheistic overtones than so be it? I think some of the most successful novels that critique social ideas aren't explicitly in a genre about that social idea, they're just written well and categorized in the literature section. Also, making an explicitly atheist genre might discourage some people from reading your book and accidentally encountering atheistic ideas. If it's shelved in the literature section someone might accidentally pick it up and start reading it and become exposed to ideas they never would have been exposed to otherwise.
But to each their own. If this is the battle you want to fight, go for it.
2) From a writing stand point, I would expand your prologue and write in more character rather than describing your characters. Instead of saying Schae was "old, stuck in her beliefs, and clearly nothing was going to convince her otherwise" make the scene a little longer and show her being stubborn, refusing to concede a point or arguing fruitlessly in the face of overwhelming evidence. You know how stubborn theists behave, show her being a stubborn theist. It would make the prologue more dynamic and captivating, I think, especially since it seems you're using it as an ice monster prologue where these three characters are setting up a conflict, and none of them appear in the first chapter. Writing more characterization into the prologue might also allow you to drop character names and make the prologue more sinister (who are these people? Why are they talking about this? What's going on?) while making the characters recognizable through their mode of expressing themselves, their mannerisms and their motives so you pick up on who they are when they reappear in the story a little later.
But to each their own. If this is the battle you want to fight, go for it.
2) From a writing stand point, I would expand your prologue and write in more character rather than describing your characters. Instead of saying Schae was "old, stuck in her beliefs, and clearly nothing was going to convince her otherwise" make the scene a little longer and show her being stubborn, refusing to concede a point or arguing fruitlessly in the face of overwhelming evidence. You know how stubborn theists behave, show her being a stubborn theist. It would make the prologue more dynamic and captivating, I think, especially since it seems you're using it as an ice monster prologue where these three characters are setting up a conflict, and none of them appear in the first chapter. Writing more characterization into the prologue might also allow you to drop character names and make the prologue more sinister (who are these people? Why are they talking about this? What's going on?) while making the characters recognizable through their mode of expressing themselves, their mannerisms and their motives so you pick up on who they are when they reappear in the story a little later.
Teenaged X-Files obsession + Bermuda Triangle episode + Self-led school research project = Atheist.
