Initially, I thought it is funny to organize atheists. It sounds like: “forum of citizens with arms and legs”, or “Americans without special needs”...

But you have a point. Organizing atheist groups can have political impact, as every other interest group has strong links to presidential candidates.

I was born in Yugoslavia which was at that time transitioning from strong communist state into more moderate socialistic system. However, religion was strictly prohibited from education and politics. My rights were guaranteed, and no one had any right to impose their religious views to others. I can’t even imagine some politicians proposing (for instance) banning abortion based on their religious views. That pathetic group would be kicked out of parliament without any discussion.

Then, in early 90’s we started first elections in Bosnia, and some idiot decided to remove part of electoral law that prohibits political parties with ethnic / religious focus. Ethnic and religious groups went wild. Serbs (Orthodox Christians), Muslims (Muslims), and Croats (Catholics) started voting for their own parties. Election was a farce...they didn’t even have to count votes as they almost precisely reflected census data. Muslims had most of the votes as the largest religious group in Bosnia, then Serbs, and Croats respectively.

Serbs didn’t want to be dominated by Muslims, so they started organizing militant separation. Croats didn’t want to be dominated by either Muslims or Serbs, and did the same thing. Muslims started arming themselves to keep things together. It took one little spark to create full blown war within few months.

Who is keeping an eye on religious groups in democratic countries? They are majority, and they are trying to get what they want no matter how unconstitutional their demands are. We are lucky to get this far without any world wars since 40’s.