I don't even come close to understanding why they should be. I know that among some religious fundamentalists 'secular humanism' is a fearsome thing, although I've never know quite why. I've sometimes thought that they feel that being in proximity with someone who doesn't believe in a god might bring down the wrath of God upon them.

But why should an atheist be threatening to oneself or one's community? Maybe if one thought that it meant that they lived a totally amoral life and one suspected that would include any act that they thought they could get away with, like murder or theft or whatever, one might easily want to keep one's distance. But I have never felt that psychosis is synonymous with atheism.

I suspect that we all have neighbors or even family members who are secretly atheistic and we don't even know it.