It looks like since the deranged attacks of Oslo took place that many in the media have been more than happy to blame everything that is not left-liberal or far left socialists for some responsibility for the actions of a crazy and clearly extremely violent man. And it so happens that some also point a finger at the so called “new” atheists for advocating their views on religions and especially the dangers of totalitarian Islam in the West in particular and in the world in general, this type of blacklisting is very easy and comfortable for them to do since the murderer wrote a manifesto of some 1,500 pages in which he had sufficient space to mention almost any other name in atheism or the anti Islamic movement, as well as the oppressors of multiculturalism in Europe and in the world.
It is a grave sign when journalists just run a search on a 1,500 pages document to find names that they want to slur and then use the twisted demented mind of a murderer as a weapon against thinkers and activists of peaceful and democratic movements, and because it seems that right now anything but a liberal multi-cultural minds are accepted in Europe it is only fair that we try and present the real atheist mind, and the idea behind it.
Just to get the obvious out of the way, Atheism has nothing to do with violence, it has nothing to do with social or cultural tolerance, it is simply the opposition to the idea of god or gods, out of this main idea there is the growing criticism of the way theocracies run themselves and how they destroy the lives of the people living in them, as well as the never ending task of reminding the world how religions acted when they were more powerful.
An Atheist should not have any problem with someone practicing faith in their homes, without forcing anyone to do so and without hurting anyone in the process of practicing. There is nothing wrong with anyone wanting to believe anything and doing so privately, however it does become a problem when the ideas of religion find their way out and are being forced or obsessiveness introduced to a non-believer population. So for someone to eat Kosher meat in their homes is perfectly normal to have a whole city with exclusively kosher butchers and kosher supermarket meat is not acceptable.
For anyone to pray five times a day at home on his or her own time is not a problem, but when the believers gather in the streets and block access to the road, create a public disturbance and terrorize other habitats is not acceptable. An atheist should not fight the individual right for worship but the totalitarianism of religion and the way it constantly tries to sneak up behind everyone else.
If you are an atheist try and focus on objecting to the idea of a god, or gods, it is no small task, unfortunate. It is not an objection to the person worshiping but the idea that the person needs to worship anything or anyone to begin with that is the real essence of atheism.