If I had thought about it, I probably would have expected it. People who disagree with what is being done to Terri Schiavo have reached down in to the blackest depths of their hearts and come up with the worst insult they can think of: they call him an atheist.

The Ledger reports:

"We feel like we're the silent majority," says Harmon, who claims fellow protesters have thrown salt on him and called him an atheist. "I just feel like Michael Schiavo went through the court system for seven years and so I believe we have to believe in our court system and that it works."

Calling him an atheist because they hate what he is doing is only possible in a culture where atheists are reviled, despised, and hated. This is the culture of "love" for conservative evangelicals. Imagine if he called Michael Schiavo a "dirty Jew"?

"Those of us in faith have been missing in action," Daubenmire says. "How come Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson aren't laying in front of that door over there? If they really believe a woman is being murdered, where is the church?"

That's a very good question. If religious and political leaders aren't grandstanding and really believe that Terri Schiavo is being murdered, why aren't they doing exactly what Daubenmire suggests?

Read More:

• Atheism 101
• Atheism in Society
• News About Atheism and Atheists
• Terri Schiavo: News & Issues