here's an interesting story you might want to read;
The New Naysayers
In the midst of religious revival, three scholars argue that atheism is smarter.
Atheists "are seen as a threat to the American way of life by a large portion of the American public," according to a study by Penny Edgell, a sociologist at the University of
Minnesota.
In a recent NEWSWEEK Poll, Americans said they believed in God by a margin of 92 to 6—only 2 percent answered "don't know"—and only 37 percent said they'd be willing to vote for an atheist for president. (That's down from 49 percent in a 1999 Gallup poll—which also found that more Americans would vote for a homosexual than an atheist.)
source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14638243/site/newsweek/