I am in the somewhat peculiar position of being a practising Catholic while recognising that, in an entirely material world, my faith is irrational. I am aware that there are those, atheists and theists, who despise people like me for electing to believe without requiring evidence - but I can live with that.
I, in my turn, despise the mindset of atheists and theists who seek to tell others what to believe.
I utterly reject the idea that religion or atheism should have a voice in government. If religious believers want to change the world, do it by example. The same goes for atheists. My faith is no-one's business but mine, your atheism is no-one's business but yours.   
Some of the postings in this and associated threads do seem to be unnecessarily defensive or aggressive and, as a consequence, have undermined rather than enhanced the discussion. None of us knows if we are right, we live in hope. Steve Shaw once instructed me to 'get up of my knees'. (no, I can't remember the thread and can't be arsed to look for it.). Starry Pete ( or should that be starry pete?) took me to task for not accepting every word of the Old Testament as the literal truth. Such responses simply convince me that they both have issues of their own to resolve. On the other hand, if I am irritating those two I must be doing something right.