Myth:
Atheists claim not to believe in any gods, but they have replaced worship of the True God with worship of themselves.
Response:
Religious theists know that atheists aren't part of their religion and don't worship their god, but a number of religious theists seem to have trouble imagining how a person could be without any religion at all and not worship any sort of god. It's commonly assumed then that atheists replace the "true god" with something else, and the most popular alleged replacement is the atheist themselves. Thus we have the commonly repeated myth that atheists worship themselves.
Whether there is even the slightest truth to this or not will turn on how we define "worship" because that is the key concept here. In the end, now matter how we define worship — whether narrowly or broadly — none of the definitions describe anything that atheists do with respect to themselves. It is thus completely false to say that atheists worship themselves in any fashion.
Worship is normally defined in a number of ways: "reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred; adoring reverence or regard; to render religious reverence and homage to; to feel an adoring reverence or regard." Thus to claim that atheists worship themselves, a religious theist is claiming that an atheist pays" reverent honor or homage" to themselves, regarding themselves as a "sacred personage," or renders "religious reverence and homage" to themselves, or feels "adoring reverence or regard" for themselves.
None of this is true. There are a few people out there who arguably have adoring reverence for the themselves, and I suppose that some of them are atheists, but that's a small minority of an even smaller minority — it's certainly not true of most or even a significant number of atheists. Such an attitude does not in any way follow logically, necessarily, or even commonly from atheism itself.
If we focus on the actual practice of "worship," the sorts of things which religious theists do when they actively worship their gods, we find that there is even less of a reason for saying that atheists worship themselves. In no way do atheists pray to themselves, hold religious services in honor of themselves, or erect monuments as a means for glorifying and exalting themselves over everyone else.
If we think of "worship" as a means for setting oneself above all others in an egotistical or selfish manner, we'd have to admit that some atheists surely do this — but not at rates that appear to be any higher than theists. Such "worship" would have to include putting oneself above the law, for example, and there are numerous examples of religious theists doing exactly that when they think God isn't being sufficiently obeyed by civil society.
It's difficult to give much credence to such a definition of worship, though, because it strays so far from the original concept that it doesn't even appear to be metaphorical any more. If someone simply wants to accuse atheists of being egotistical and selfish, then they should say so instead of inserting the term "worship" where it's inappropriate. Atheists can't be claimed to worship themselves under any definition of "worship" and religious theists are wrong for trying to claim it.
