But the atheists and “free thinkers” are something else. I remember several years ago at a Promise Keepers conference, for two days in August we filled up a 45000 seat stadium plus the field (and it was HOT down on the floor). Those who attended endured that heat because we wanted to be there, and to us it was worth our time, the heat, and the price of admission.
Meanwhile a large group of so-called free thinkers stood outside the event and protested for the duration, for what reason I still don't know. During lunch break an equal number of us went out to greet them and offer them some lunch, and engaged in some conversation. And it was funny - their vision of what was going on inside was nothing like the actual event.
I suppose there are some converts who have a genuine beef with one church or another, it certainly happens, but it was clear to me these guys had no idea what it really means to have belief and faith in God, and the sense of comfort and security it brings, and the valuable life lessons we learn from the bible and our religious leaders.
My testimony is (and it may seem weak to some but it is mine and tough if you don't like it) that because human beings are uniquely capable of willful and conscious acts of evil, it is good that we have adopted belief systems to help serve as a moral compass. In much of the world we follow the common Judeo-Christian theme and it serves us well, providing the punishment/reward incentive and a promise. Whether or not you want to believe the promise, whether or not God is real, if you want to believe in just the here and now and no hereafter, the rewards and punishments are real and in life they will enforce themselves with or without faith in God. So there is no logical reason to begrudge the faithful our observance of that, or to deny us the right to teach our children likewise.
And there are honest atheists, not motivated by politics, who don't devote their lives to preaching against religion because they understand that.
Well, this ‘testimony’ is pretty much what a respectful atheist, or respectful non-Christian would confess in a candid moment: Christianity works at an empirical social level as evaluated quite apart from any theological tenets.
But as C. S. Lewis put it, either there is “pie in the sky” or there isn’t, and the question is quite independent of whether it is useful for political purposes.