Atheism in the United States

Thank you for the rebuttal. I agree in that the Declaration of independence is very old and is in fact outdated. I agree that Atheism is constantly on the rise in America. I also agree that there is a different mindset of American leaders and citizens today than there was when the Declaration was written. These are strong points but I don't agree that they effectively argue the point. Simply put, if you argue that the age of the Declaration of Independence in any way invalidates the document, then on the same hand you would open every aspect of the Declaration to invalidation upon the very same argument. This is reason enough to invalidate arguing that the age of the document somehow implies that its principles are no longer justified. Additionally, the number of Atheists in the U.S. and the rising trend of Atheism itself also falls short of an effective argument against the Declaration. By this logic, if any "Belief" were on a constant rise in followers and showed a consistent trend of popularity, then that belief would stand as reason to discredit the Declaration of Independence if that belief contradicted the principles of the document. This logic would include all beliefs including extremist beliefs such as pedophilia, Nazism, Satanism, and extremist Islam because there is no statute of limitation according to the argument, the criteria is only that the rising trend somehow invalidates the document. I agree that there is no proof that every Man is "Endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights", however my point was never about proving the Declaration of Independence to be irrefutable truth, my point is "Based" entirely on the fact that the Declaration is the standing document that serves as the grounds for invalidating Atheism in the United States. While I agree that the law doesn't make things true, I don't argue that it's always right, only that it still stands as the law of this land. Finally to address the discrimination, the 1st Amendment states clearly "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." The argument I address in this instance is that it's not fair to discriminate against people who have a different set of beliefs than the majority. This is similar to above but deserves a different approach. An example of this logic would be that if Extremist Muslims believed that they needed to kill or forcibly convert those who didn't believe in Islam, then their beliefs would contradict our nations laws and the principles of our Country of Democracy. On the same hand, if Atheists don't believe in God and refuse to acknowledge him, then their lack of belief contradicts the principles of our Country. The freedom of religion posted above from the 1st Amendment does not account for a lack of religion...Atheism by definition is not a Religion because it is not a belief, it is instead a lack of belief by definition. The Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and Constitution supports anyone's belief in a religion: re"li"gion noun \ri-G2;li-jən: the belief in a god or in a group of gods : an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods http://www.merriam-webster.com... By definition, "Atheism" is not a religion, it is a lack of religion if anything. Whether or not "Feelings" contradict the logic, the fact remains that there is no constitutional account for the lack of a religion in the United States and the idea isn't compatible with our "Still current" set of principles. Our country is "One Nation, under God". God is in fact a principle of our Nation, he is stated to be so in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, our laws, we pledge our allegiance to a Flag that represents a Country, Nation and Republic that is UNDER God, there is no basis to argue that our Country is not under God but the grounds to argue in support of the idea are strewn throughout the history of our Nation and still existent in our laws. I feel, you feel, we feel...is all irrelevant. Demographics, trends, and statistics have no bearing on the Declaration of Independence, Constitution or Bill of Rights until they have changed or amended them. We as citizens in the United states are tolerant of many things that aren't supported by the laws of our Country but again we aren't debating what we tolerate. Lastly, anyone who "Forced" an outdated allegiance on citizens would be a tyrant by definition, which is why no one in our Country is forced to do anything, everyone is free to leave if they so choose to do so...if they "Choose" to stay and live in this Country then logically one would be expected to conform to the principles and laws of that Country. And unfortunately, "Majority rules" doesn't apply to the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution, or Federal, State and Local laws. There are no grounds to argue that our legal system is subject to something as flimsy as majority opinion unless it follows the voting system. Atheism is shunned solely due to its numbers? I disagree entirely, the belief system is again incompatible with our Nation's principles, not because there aren't many of them. There's no sound reasoning behind that idea. While I can't argue that the prominence of the Declaration is in jeopardy, I can say that I doubt very seriously that it has anything to do with Atheism.