OK now, if you were an Iranian living in Tehran, would you proclaim that Allah is not great? And what would happen to you? If you don't believe in an afterlife, you would not like it--let's put it that way.

Couldn't happen in America? Well, actually it is not that much different here. Sure, there are a few godless enclaves where atheism is somewhat tolerated, like New York or San Francisco, but in much of America your best bet is to just shut up. If push comes to shove you can say that you were raised a Christian and that the Bible is a Good Book.

True to yourself and all that? Well, are you the kind of person who goes around telling little kids that there is no Father Christmas? Because that is what it is like. The majority of people who have a religious faith have it because they need it, so if you tell them you are an atheist, they see it as an affront. They will talk about you behind your back and pray for you, but they will not be too surprised if their prayers go unanswered.

Bottom line--there is no point telling devout Christians that you are an atheist. No good will come of it.

This question, of course, has to be faced by every single person who wants to run for President, or for any political office in the US, and you know what the answer must be. Hell, yes, I believe in a Higher Power!

It is always a dilemma for us atheists. I was brought up a Christian (not fundamentalist, though--even as a child we marveled at the fact that there were adults in America who believed that myths and fairy tales were really true, just as we marveled at Australian aborigines with their boomerangs and didgeridoos and Amazonian Indians with their poison arrows), but soo fell away from literal belief shortly after I fell upon irrefutable evidence that Santa Claus was actually my father.

BUT, BUT, BUT, we are all still products of a post-Christian society, and many of the values we treasure are inherited from our Christian history. It was the Christian churches that kept learning alive after the fall of the Roman Empire, and the monasteries gave us the way of thinking that put charity, public health, health care, and education for all at the center of our value system. Protestantism also laid the groundwork for the scientific discoveries that have put our civilization at the top of the pile in recent centuries.

I often say that I do want Christian values, but I don't want to have to profess belief in the superstitious aspects of religion.

These letters reveal that there are many, many Americans who are silent atheists, but go along with the (Christian) program for the sake of the kiddies and those adults who never quite grew up.

Do the fundamentalist gurus like Graham, Falwell, Haggard, Bakkker, Robertson, et al really believe either? I suspect not, but I think they DO believe that a Christian way of life is a much better alternative than drugs, alcohol, crime, serial monogamy, etc. that is often the fate of the uneducated, and that it provides a better environment for raising children than the secular alternative. Evangelical, fundamentalist religion is not marketed for intellectuals, they are not the core market.

I think it is perfectly valid for us ex-christians to cherry-pick enjoy those parts of religion that we like, and to let the rest slide by. I enjoy carols and candlelit Christmas services in a freezing cold medieval church. I enjoy a good wedding or a funeral. I enjoy a performance of Handel's Messiah. I cannot deny that much great art and architecture was inspired by religious belief.

We atheists should celebrate Christianity in our own way.

Cary's advice seems fair enough, but it seems remarkable that it should even be considered that something that is a routine, tax-deductible business expense should be shouldered by the employees. Maybe they can bring in some toilet paper for the bathroom, or chip in to pay the light bill, or the rent.

And surely these givings of awards by the newspaper are really a marketing ploy to sell full page advertisements. No doubt this is being pitched to the office manager by the newspaper's sales staff as a fine thing to do.

Amid the oozing fatness and warm ferments of the Froom Vale, at a season when the rush of juices could almost be heard below the hiss of fertilization, it was impossible that the most fanciful love should not grow passionate. The ready bosoms existing there were impregnated by their surroundings.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Chapter XXIV.

Personally, as a guy, I have to say that I find the word "hard" rather offensive, especially if a female professor says that a test is "not hard". Does she not realize how hurtful these words can be?