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Originally Posted by Cheese
You are correct, you dont speak for all religions, or most I would suspect. Being raised in Canada likely provides a softer hue in that regard due to the fact that atheists are despised pretty much wholeheartedly in large swaths of the USA and certainly overseas (Some regions of Canada I would suspect hold the same distaste). It is such a stigma that to even announce you are an atheist while running for public office is an automatic rejection of the electorate. You can call it whatever you like, but the overriding fact is that religion has played a major role in this rejection in the past, and continues the fight to this very day.
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It's true that you can't win a national election in the USA as an atheist, but I'd bet you could win one in Boston or California. Also, it's not like atheism has stopped some of the richest and most powerful people in the USA from gaining the status they have. So it's a pretty mixed bag.
As for overseas, again, in Europe you're pretty much fine. Obviously Australia. Many of the less developed countries may not look kindly on non-believers in whatever the majority faith happens to be, but in those places, there's often a list of things you shouldn't be if you want to be treated anything close to equally (e.g. female).
Atheists are not a particularly oppressed group. That being said,
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Originally Posted by Diracspike
And as people aren't using their religion to shape public policy neither should you.
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Atheism is not a religion. This bothers the hell out of me. There is no equivalence between a believing in something on bad evidence and declining to do so.