Many people perceive atheists as being just as fanatical as religious fundamentalists. We are the evil, amoral people that remove prayer from schools, that refute the Pledge of Allegiance, that oppose the Ten Commandments, and that kill unborn babies. If God doesn't exist, why do Atheists make such a big deal about it?
As discussed in a previous blog, atheists are not amoral. We have our own definition of morality. Since atheism is not an organized religion, each of us has our own definition of morality, but this is no different from Christianity. So far as I'm aware, no living Christian follows the morality as defined in the Bible (e.g. disobedient children should be killed). Just as we atheists do, Christians also find their own moral middle ground.
Oddly, while Christians find atheists to be amoral (without morals), atheists tend to find Christians to be immoral (going against reasonable societal morals). For example: First Amendment Rights. The very first amendment to the US Constitution explicitly states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion[.]" Conservative Christians are trying their hardest to go against this--they are trying to legislate their own interpretation of morality, according to their own religion, which is explicitly prohibited by the first amendment. The most blatant of these is the promotion of the Ten Commandments, that people explicitly believe these should be law. At least of six of these commandments reek of religion. The ones that don't: you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Arguably, the commandment "you shall not commit adultery" is a religious commandment (or sexist, based on the definition of adultery), and all remaining commandments are either explicitly religious, or are things that can't be made into law anyway (e.g. you shall not covet your neighbor's house...).
This brings us to the Pledge of Allegiance. In 1954, the "God" of Christianity was legislated into the morning ritual of children, nationwide. Based on this, George H. W. Bush has even stated publicly that atheists are not citizens because this is one nation under God. According to our First Amendment rights, though, he is the one at fault; he is the one going against our nation's founding--not me.
I have every right to practice the religion (or lack thereof) of my choosing. Congress is in the wrong by respecting any religion. Since public school is provided by the government, it is unconstitutional for public school to be used by the government as a method of pushing religion of any sort, and especially as a method of religious indoctrination (can we say intelligent design?).
Claiming the immorality of aborting a four-celled zygote is a religious claim--not one based in science or any form of logical reasoning. This is no more a person than identical twins being considered one person, or a chimera being considered two. Yet, this religious reasoning is behind why stem cell research is effectively illegal in the United States. The rest of the world is continuing in this field without us.
Why do atheists care whether other people believe in god? We only care to the extent that they push their beliefs off on other people. We care that they attempt to legislate their (by our standards) faulty morality on us. If we were not treated as less human, less American, less moral, then we wouldn't care what other people believe. If our First Amendment rights were not being stifled, we wouldn't have a problem. If religious fundamentalists were not blocking scientific research and science education, we would be fine to allow them to live in their own ignorance. We don't take issue with the religious views against premarital sex so long as it doesn't affect educating people about reality. We don't focus on people that believe the Earth is flat because they aren't trying to legislate these unfounded beliefs.
Why do I care that other people believe in God? Because they care that I don't.
