"Atheists rarely stand up proudly to declare their non-belief. More likely, they wish to be ignored by believers... left alone and unbothered."

This statement is just not true.  Militant atheism runs rampant, just check diarys over the last few days.  Or, go over to kos to see it at its worst.

I rejected my Christian upbringing when I was 11, and organized religion has always made me nervous. I understand the logic in reaching out to the Christian community -- we shouldn't just cede those voters to the Republicans -- but I still don't like the talk about faith-based initiatives. I just want every form of religion kept as far away from the government as humanly possible.

I am very, very agnostic.  I am proud of my Jewish heritage, but I consider it to be a cultural identity for me, and not a religious one.

Evangelicals give me the heebie-geebies.  I wish they'd be more like that Jesus guy they go on about.  He sounds pretty cool.  They're not.

Look, we're a pretty small slice of the electorate.  However right we may think ourselves (the other side, by the way, feels just as strongly that they are), like so much else in life we're going to have to split the difference.

I can live with my government involving itself tangentially with religion, so long as any involvement is ecumenical or neutral, and even then we have to be careful.

Government acknowledging the faith of its citizens is not necessarily an evil thing.  Government promoting religion, or a particular brand of it, is the danger.

Not all contacts between church and state are nefarious.  Jefferson wanted a high wall of separation, not a forcefield.

Compiled from my other commentary in another diary:

Just imagine this scenario:

Obama's program goes into effect and suddenly we have a group that follows all the rules and regulations apply for funds to feed the homeless in Topeka, Kansas.  They know the law and the rules, so they follow them to the letter (because they always know just how far they can push the line).  However, we all know what they do with their normal operating fund: they protest military funerals and homosexuals funerals.

I seriously doubt there will be any type of provision that will preclude a "God hates fags" sign from being within view of the table  (First amendment, and these folks know how to tie this up in court).  And what will prevent those same folks from benefiting by feeding themselves along with the homeless, and pocketing their normal food expenses to make more signs?

Make you feel good?

Makes me sick.

Obama should decapitate this program.

This country has seen a rise in religiosity over the last few decades. It's a very real, measurable trend. At the same time, there has been a drift away from attending church and religious affiliation. Two very contradictory observations.

I think part of it can be attributed to the war on terror. It's not only Muslims that think this is a religious war. Many Christians also believe that. This makes them less tolerant of anyone who doesn't share their believes.

Another part of it is that there has been an effort to make it appear as if Christianity is under attack in this country. I find this laughable when viewed from my little patch of the woods here in MS. The Christmas tree lighting at City Hall in my small town was a religious event with a sermon and hymns. There was a lighted creche in the city park. There are churches and billboards for those churches everywhere I turn. Even the local high school is turned over to a church group every Sunday. Yet, there are people right here who think their faith is somehow under attack.

Religious fervor in this country runs in cycles. I often wonder if this latest uptick can be explained as a prelude to a serious drop in religion in this country. It would be interesting to see if the same thing happened in Europe just before the European countries saw a large rise in secularization.

Christians. I too share this edgy feeling. I often felt the Christians I knew looked down on us non-Christians. That more of our tax dollars are funding these groups, even if they're funding just the non-religious activities of these groups, really bothers me.