ThazzarBaal:
As several other people have already said, the general question of "Do religious people matter in America?" is a bizarre one, given that American Christians are the ones in charge of the government. A majority of Americans consider themselves religious, with the most common religion being some form of Christianity.
It very much matters what the American Christians who are in charge of the country think about things. It matters what the Christian judges on the Supreme Court think. They are the ones who decided that women should not have bodily autonomy, for example. Several were appointed to the court by other American Christians
precisely because they had certain religious views that would influence their decisions on such matters.
The United States is an outlier among western democracies, in terms of the levels of overt religiosity of its people. Of course this matters.
Oh, there's plenty of Atheists too, who tend to find religious ideologies delusional if not overtly dangerous, so ... Do religious people matter in America?
When we negate the Sophists and Buddhists, or the Muslims or Shintoists, we pretty much tell them they don't matter. Do Christians matter or atheists matter for that matter?
It is a simple fact that Christians are the majority in the United States. They have huge political sway at all levels of government. Sure, to some (many?) of them, Buddhists and Shintos can be safely ignored, for the most part. Muslims, on the other hand, tend to be stereotyped as evil terrorist sympathisers - people to blame for various problems. As for atheists, some Christians are (rightly) worried, because non-belief is the fastest-growing belief system in the United States. So, some Christians try to demonise atheists, as well. The chances of getting elected to Congress are reduced for anybody who openly admits to being an atheist; the Christians like to exert their power to keep those people out of government.
I like the idea of the separation of church and state, if only for the purpose of inclusion and citizen acceptance. I don't like anti theist movements, but I understand how some ideologies can be offensive.
It's more about the anti religious movements in play than how this nation has operated in times past. It's a very important freedom we have here, and while I support separation of church and state, freedom of religion, and of course freedom of the press, I'm not so sure that the anti theist movements are at all beneficial given the rest of the international community and most of America's voter base, but ... We see the effects daily, even if and when you may be unaware
This seems to be your main point of concern, if I'm reading between the lines correctly.
You're worried that "anti-religious movements" might reduce your Christian majority power base over time, perhaps eventually whittling it down to the point where you and your fellow Christians (I assume you are a Christian) can no longer just dictate to the rest of America how your country will be run.
I get it. It's tough when a majority looks like it's heading towards becoming a minority. Those in power start looking over their shoulders, feeling insecure about maintaining their privilege and their ability to dictate to the rest. At the moment, white American Christians are looking at a double whammy. Soon, the United States won't be majority white any more, and perhaps a little later it might not be majority Christian either.
There are two ways to fight your battle against "anti-theism" and those evil atheists you fear. One way is to do your utmost to try to repress the messages of the atheists. You can, for example, complain that the atheists are too loud and don't know their proper place in society. You can demand that atheists respect your religious views just because they are religious views. You can try to build a sanctified shield around your belief system that none are allowed to breach. You can try to ensure that atheist voices are more difficult to hear in your society, so their message has more trouble spreading. At the extreme, you could try to change the laws of your nation to make America a true theocracy. Who needs separation of church and state? That has only worked for atheists and heathens and other non-Christians. As a majority Christian, maybe you don't need it.
Another way to fight against "anti-theism" would be to engage in the battle of
ideas. If Christianity really is morally superior, or leads to better government than a church-state-separated secular government that does not mandate Christian religious law, then you could be out there educating people on the many reasons
why Christianity is better for everybody. Instead of complaining how atheists won't accept your God, you could be showing them how you know that your God is real, and persuading them that they should become Born Again.
It seems to me that the main reason you want to build a protective wall around Christianity is that you're worried that Christianity isn't strong enough to withstand or rebut the arguments of the anti-theists.
You also have to deal with that pesky Bill of Rights of yours. On the one hand, its great that you all get to have as many deadly weapons as you want in the house. But, on the other hand, the whole free speech thing gets old very quickly when you're prevented from suppressing inconvenient minorities who use it.
I could claim atheism as honestly as I can claim being a theist. The difference is in how I view the term God and what that means to me as a person.
I don't know what you mean. You're a theist
because of how you view the term God. You're convinced - for whatever reason - that a God exists. You can't be convinced that a God exists and honestly claim that you're an atheist; that's a contradiction in terms.
Do religious people matter in America? The notion is people matter in America, despite the whatever it is black lives matters might mean or imply unless it implies that black lives matter too. Otherwise we end up with an only black.lives matter which I will disagree with, given the fact that I am not black. I may be of asian origin, or umm ... I may not.
You seem to be saying that you're worried what might happen when you find yourself in the minority, instead of the majority that you're accustomed to being in. At some level, perhaps you recognise that your majority has not had a glowing history of treating minorities with kindness or fairness, and you fear that the same shoe might be on another foot in future.
Regardless of any of this, though, the fact is that no atheist is advocating to ban religious belief in your country, or to punish worshippers, or to censor religious discussion. No atheist is advocating that atheism become a State Religion. Your beliefs will remain protected free speech. There's no need to get your guns ready for when the atheists come knocking at your door (which, by the way, they never do - have you noticed?)
