The Importance of Being a Non-believer

The Importance of Being a Non-believer
I ask myself why being non-religious is so important to me, why do I want other non-believers to come out of the closet, and why do I think it would be a good thing if those who are presently believers were to become non-believers. My reasoning is this:
I value liberty as much as life itself. By liberty I mean the freedom to speak and act in any manner I so choose so long as my words or action do not infringe on the rights of all others to do the same. It seems obvious that many of the threats to liberty originate in religious dogma, e.g. (a) our right to freedom of and from religion (you can’t have one without the other), as guaranteed under article VI and Amendments I and XIV of our constitution, is violated whenever prayers are conducted in schools or at meetings of governmental bodies;
 (b) our right to hold public office regardless of our religious beliefs is violated whenever a candidate is asked questions about his/her religious beliefs; (c) our right to make choices and be responsible for ourselves is violated whenever laws are passed making criminal offenses out of prostitution, drug use, gambling and abortion, and making illegal certain marriages (whether same sex or multiple). Since none of these actions infringe on anyone’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then government should not be interfering.
People of religious faith tend to think they know "what God says" and "what God wants", and therefore are justified in imposing their wishes on others. This, in part, is the way Congress justifies a war in Iraq--to bring democracy to the Iraquis because "God is on our side" and the radical Muslims (who also think that God is on their side) were committing atrocities.