Thank you rational atheists

I confess that I expected a negative response, but in fact everyone has been remarkably positive.  It's often surprising to learn that although the religious might be in the majority a surprising number of people reject superstition in all it's forms and embrace the rational, the logical and the real.

However, it saddens me that some people explained how they couldn't "come out" as atheists because of their fear of rejection by their communities, families and friends.  One of the most objectionable things about any rigid belief system must be that, whether it's religious or political, Christian, Muslim or Marxist, dissent is unwelcome and often forbidden.  In extreme but distressingly common situations heresy and apostasy are treated as capital crimes.  People have been killed just for expressing their free thinking.