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A salient point that doesn't seem to have been addressed here, and I think is necessary to the discussion There is a difference between (A)theist and (Anti)theist and I believe that many people who claim to be atheist are actually behaving as antitheists. I don't believe that is productive. I don't necessarily mean people here... I mean people in general. The kind of people who can't allow a cross to exist in a military cemetary, the kind who can't allow the existence of religious imagery... I think they protest too much. They expect tolerance for their atheism while wanting to strip others of their rights to belief. I think this kind of rabid anti-theism fuels some of the more irrational behaviors in the neo-Christian movement. Also, much has been made of tax money being wasted on religious displays. Because these are generally local I'm sure that it is done differently all over. But most of the ones I've known of and have heard about are privately funded. Now, this is not to be an apologist for Christians. Simply put, I just don't believe that being an atheist automatically makes one more rational than if one is Christian. Most of the atheists I know outside of the Objectivist community are socialists and anarchists. Rand was quoted multiple times as saying that religion had a valid function as an early and primitive form of philosophy. That Christianity is not entirely rational does not automatically make the person that rejects it rational- they can just as soon pick up something else equally irrational. We must define ourselves by positives, not negatives.