Lets start with the origins of religion. According to the God delusion the evolutionary reason that people are religious is because young people easily obey older people, for the sake of learning basic rules in life. This was useful for our caveman antcestors because now they could learn that a tiger would eat them, without actually having to experience it, but the evolutionary disadvantage was that religion has originated from this; its like the evolutionary defect that makes bugs fly into candle light.
Religion was originally used for two main reasons. The first one was to explain the world around us. Humans did not know what a lightning was, so Thor made it. We did not know about tides, so it must have something to do with Neptune’s mood. We do not like to die, and we do not know anything about it, so we just call death the path to heaven, to make it less frightening. However recently, science has started proving A LOT of facts originally explained by religion, and so religion has been proven wrong, which is leading to an adaptive religious culture. For example, when Galileo proved the earth revolved around the sun, the Church had to make an apology. Darwin’s evolutionary theory is further suffocating religion. The next big hit I predict is when humans further develop life in a laboratory, which will prove wrong that God creates life only.
The second reason religion was created was because it was comforting to the poor. Their life sucked big time, and so with religion they had a goal. This very soon transformed into a tool to oppress the poor and make them do exactly what the authorities wanted them to do, holding the wrath of God before their eyes if they did not.
Now religion was originally not bad. I mean, similarly, it is not bad if you believe in Santa Claus; even though its not true it sitll brings you happiness, which people claim religion does too. The bunny rabbit, or the four eyed spaghetti monster are similar examples. However, sadly, religion has evolved into something with way to many negative aspects, which provide an incentive to not believe in the nonsense that they propose is true. I will now go into further detail about the negative aspects of religion.
Sadly, we are far from our God loving culture that religion originally was. Most world wide conflicts are religiously linked; both the Bible and the Koran state that you have to kill people that do not believe in Christianity or Islam respectively. Many world wide tensions are hence created, obstructing a more peaceful world wide society. Furthermore, religion heavily oppresses people. Do as God tells you, be loyal to him (or as the Bible sickly states; love God above all, even your own family, as distinctly shown in the father forced to sacrifice his own son in one of the biblical stories). In a religious society, you are first beaten down to nothingness, before you are allowed to join and be “happy”. Hence, I see religious people as more insecure than non-religious ones; they need the social structure and future goal to survive. I could rant on about negative aspects of religion, but I will stick with this basic paragraph; I am however sure religion has caused a lot more damage than what I stated, including massacres of non Christians in Europe, or the suicide bombings (including 9/11) world wide.
I see one main problem in America, though personally I am Dutch, which means I am probably more liberal than the rest of the world (yes were that small nation with drugs, sex and alcohol and over 40% of non religious people, the rest mainly protestant, though we do have a good portion of our population that is made up of Islamic immigrants). In America, if you are atheist, you are looked upon as a lesser person, with a problem. You are compared to gay people or retarded people (not saying that these people are any less human than the rest of us). People, if you are an atheist you are Strong. You posses the knowledge and guts the future world needs to stay peaceful.
Zac Efron and Amanda Bynes, I am so glad you are two stars that are capable of standing out the way you do. I know how hard it is to stand up against social ideas and the flow they create, and I support you two fully. I am a fan of Amanda especially, because I know she was raised as a Jew, which must make her situation even tougher as she has to also face family pressures. Zach also seems like a bright mind.
People around the world need to grasp this new idea of not fooling themselves with religion. I am only 17 and have been capable of doing so, so please people world wide; follow this peaceful though, and we could actually make our world a better place. I will end with a quote, referring to Amanda Bynes quote; “respect people’s right to believe, but not necessarily what they believe”. This is the true basis of liberation.

Bottom note: can I please make a distinction between atheism and agnosticism. If you are agnostic, you do not follow a religion but still believe there is a God, or are unsure about his existence. This is a real good step because obviously we as humans cannot be 100% sure about Gods in-existence, and as long as you do not fool yourself with him. If you are an Atheist you are a realist; you believe in no supernatural power, and this one I prefer even more because it allows you to be your own guide. You only have one life, so make everything out of it, and do not let religion take it away!

Read John 3:16

You win both ways!