I know any number of atheists and they are generally cheerful, law-abiding, moral people. The ones I know don’t go around demanding that symbols and acts of religious devotion by others be restricted.
I like the atheists I know even if they don’t believe in God or identify themselves as Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, or any other faith group. It’s their choice. The more militant atheists, however, should let others make their choices, too. They should be able to get through a brief, public moment of prayer without being upset about it.
Atheists sometimes refer to the “wall” between state and church, but that is not in the Constitution. There is, however, a restriction on the “establishment of (a state) religion.” The Founders were all religious to a greater or lesser respect. Abraham Baldwin, a delegate from Georgia was an ordained minister. They started each session with a prayer.
George Washington expressed the view of the delegates when he said, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” Thomas Jefferson, who is often quoted for his statement in a letter about the need for a wall between state and church, said “A studious perusal of the sacred volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands.”
In any group of people there are those zealots who are not content to hold their own beliefs, but insist that they be imposed on all others. This is true of the “secular humanists”, a term atheists use to describe themselves. In the June/July issue of Free Inquiry, a publication for atheists, the editor of the magazine, Thomas W. Flynn, asks “Is Religion Dying?”