In America, atheists have always been a relatively small and ignored minority. This may be changing, though: concerned with what they view as the increasingly theocratic direction of American politics, many atheists are organizing politically. Atheists don't traditionally "join" groups very much, suggesting that a fundamental shift in thinking and attitude may take place.

The Detroit News reports:

Their strategy to combat what they see as a continued blurring of line between church and state: organize. “The current cultural climate has really inspired a lot of people to be more active in pressing for complete separation of church and state,” said Lee Helms, an atheist from Rochester Hills who has written letters to newspapers and participated in protests on local issues such as the display of a touring Ten Commandments on city property.

“We are slowly learning to do what the religious do so well and that is to become politically organized,” Johnson said. “Any activist organization that wants to have any say in what goes in America has to be politically active.” ...

Johnson acknowledges that religious people in the United States far outnumber atheists, but she notes there are more than 28 million Americans without any religious affiliation. Atheists, together with nonreligious Americans, easily outnumber other minority religious groups. Like others, Johnson believes it is a small minority of religious people working to blur the line between church and state while most Americans, religious or not, want to keep them separate.

It's important to recognize that atheists alone aren't a large enough group to produce much change in America. When combined with others who have rejected religion (but not theism) or who have adopted very nontraditional views towards religion and theism, though, our numbers are quite significant. Fortunately, most of these others share opinions on issues like the separation of church and state, creationism vs. evolution, the importance of science, and so forth.

 

Read More:

• Atheism 101
• What is Atheism?
• Who Are Atheists?