Why Are Atheists Concerned About Other People's Belief in God?

I've often been asked, if atheists don't believe in God, why do they care about religion? Why can't atheists just shut up and let religious folks believe and do whatever they want? While the reasons are many I have explained a couple of the primary reasons here.

Religious Power in Politics

Atheists in America care a lot about religion. This is primarily because religious groups in our country have a great deal of political power. Religious groups in America have successfully created religious laws which the entire populace, religious or not, must follow. These laws include the ban against same sex marriage, blue laws, and anti-cohabitation laws.

Christian religious lobbies are also trying to insert Christianity into public schools in place of science education. They have succeeded in getting "abstinence only" rather than science based sex education into public schools, paid for entirely with taxpayer money. Fortunately, President Obama has re-allocated the budget for religion based sex education to fund science based sex education. They are also attempting to insert Biblical creationism as fact into public schools.

Additionally, religious organizations are granted tax-free status even though they are politically powerful and often use their influence to create legislation or to support specific political candidates. While religious organizations do not pay taxes, they benefit from them. This means that people who are having laws passed to discriminate against them by religious lobbies are required to pay the taxes that benefit the very organizations behind the discriminatory laws.

Religion Inspires Behavior

The dominant religions in America teach that only they are right and that any other belief serves their opponent, Satan. Their belief systems hold that those who do not follow that specific belief system are sinful, evil, and immoral. This leads to intolerance, not just of atheists but of people who don't share the same belief system or don't practice it exactly the way they do.

People's behavior is affected by their beliefs, sometimes even dictated by their beliefs. If people have beliefs that are different from mine and antithetical to mine, I have a great reason to be concerned. I believe in freedom of expression, human rights for all, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state. These beliefs are the polar opposite of the most visible Christian conservative beliefs.

Prejudice against homosexuals, people of other religions, and women often stems from religious belief. White supremacists and other such cults have a religious basis. We are all affected by bigotry, regardless of our belief or absence of belief.

Another piece in the puzzle is that, as human beings, atheists are concerned when other human beings are mistreated. There is a visible amount of religiously motivated child abuse in America - people who deny their children medical treatment, people who punish their children physically for perceived sins, people who deny their children an adequate education - all in the name of religion.

Because religious people are the majority in America, and some of those religious people try to use the weight of that majority to step on minorities, including atheists, of course atheists are concerned!

Sources:
Life experience
http://www.squidoo.com/Atheist-Issues