Ah, good point. Regardless of McVeigh's religion (or lack of), that was not the motivation.

The KKK, however, really did (do?) think they were doing god's work. That the whites were the true chosen race. They are, of course, extremely far from 99% of christians, but they do consider themselves good christians. This is all from books, though; no first hand accounts.

I also agree that the IRA is the most apt example. I don't think that the casualties from all those years matches lives lost on 9/11. However, I can't think of any single act of terrorism that has claimed as many civilian lives as 9/11.

Ummmm.... ok, why? Do you not think that atheists are discriminated against? Maybe not in some parts of the country, but it happens quite a bit.

Maybe I'm not paying attention, but what are all these depictions of christian serial killers. Could you list more examples? I'm not saying they don't exist, just that I've never noticed them.

The GLBT were all up in arms about Basic Instinct having a lesbian serial killer.

Hmmm... Shawshank and Carrie were both by Stephen King.

The Provisional Irish Republican Army killed over a thousand people in terrorist attacks.
The KKK killed over a thousand in the early part of the 20th century.
Timothy McVeigh (OKC bombing) was an on-again off-again Catholic (he claimed to be agnostic, but requested the Sacrament of Extreme Unction before his execution).

That's all in the 20th century.

I think there is a lot of assumptions and false knowledge about atheists.

I believe your argument may be a false dilemma. Those are not the only two possibilities.

A) Believing that everything came from nothing.
B) Believing that there is an almighty spiritual being responsible for everything.
C) Believing that everything has always occurred in cycles (Big bang, collapse, etc.)
D) Believing that everything was created from a group of gods.
E) Believing that everything is an illusion.
F) Believing we just don't know the science behind it...yet.
etc....

Additionally, why is it easier to believe an almighty spiritual being always existed vs the universe?

Lastly, atheists don't reject the supernatural because they don't want to follow the rules. It's the other way around, we don't believe, therefore we don't follow those rules. If we believed but did not follow the rules, we would be a "lapsed christian/muslim/jew/etc."

Atheists are discriminated against every day. Christians are a majority and have used their weight as such. Example, I live in Texas and would have to be an "in the closet" atheist if I was to run for public office. An official could be "excluded from holding office" if she/he does not "acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being."