T, T, T...
Tom, Tom, Tom, you're just playing with words:
Consideration of what? Exactly what boon of the State are atheists going to miss out on? What did they miss out on under Reagan? What parties aren't they going to be invited to?
You know what "consideration" means in this context. It's about the possibility that President Romney will conduct himself as President of the Christian United States. Just as Dubya has conducted himself as President of only the Republican United States.
But once again, reasoned cynicism comes to the rescue. I wrote in "Playing to the base":
But Mitt-the-empty-suit's a politician, and like every Republican who's ever pandered to the Religious Right, he will betray his promises and disappoint them.
You often take that tack of deriding the concerns of others about what might happen. Pretty strange coming from a RightWinger, since the constant of your rhetoric over the years is the theme of the sky falling and the imminent destruction of America at the hands of Democrats.
But let's do us both the courtesy of acknowledging that there's a point to this: Pushback against a trend, and putting the other side on notice that we see (or think we see) where they want to go, and we'll have none of it. It's too late to speak out after the damage is done. You have to speak out before things get that bad.
You say that you're "seeing a lot of open hostility to religion from a lot of quarters lately". Well sure you are, in direct proportion to the increasing militancy of the Religious Right.
I believe strongly in freedom of religion. But when religious conservatives enter politics they demand that I examine their beliefs, because they're putting them forth as the basis of public policy. I have every right, then, to criticize their beliefs; hell, I have an obligation to do so. What they believe in private is none of my business, but I find their beliefs repugnant when applied to the public sphere.
I'm not impressed by the whining that tries to portray resistance to Christian militancy as religious prejudice. That's politics. If they can't stand the heat, they should get out of the kitchen.