What? Santa Doesn't Exist?

It can't be true! I got presents at Christmas! Therefore, Santa exists. The logic is flawless.

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I see your point about atheism. And I'd agree with you without much reservation if people who claimed to be atheists were as benign as, say, I am in my non-belief that Mars is inhabited with small green creatures. I steadfastly believe there is no such life as that on Mars, but spend almost no time or energy whatever dedicated to that non-belief.

Not so the typical atheist. They are commonly quite energetic in their "belief" in the non-existence of God, and seek to make sure that no element of "religion" ever interferes with their existence. They are, in essence, more committed to their "faith" (in the non-existence of God) than are most people who profess belief in God.

The conflict is actually quite striking here in the United States. Lawsuits get filed nearly every day to scrub the landscape of any reference to "God." They (atheists) are a quite strident and organized bunch. Their agenda is -- I suspect, but not in a vacuum -- to destroy organized religion as it's presently known. They have largely succeeded in their quest, though not completely ... yet. They use the "separation of church and state" argument to drive any reference to God from anything even remotely connected to "government." Since government is involved in almost every aspect of society, they have succeeded in driving religion from those areas. The quest to strike the phrase "under God" from our "Pledge of Allegience" failed -- for now -- only because the atheists overreached and woke up the slumbering majority. But every day there's another case where some school is prohibited from allowing a student Bible study group to meet after school while other student groups of all shape and size -- including groups interested in the occult -- are allowed.

All in the name of "separation of church and state," which really means "imposition of the atheist creed."

That's where I'm coming from.