Does atheism launch a direct attack on the Western Christian heritage?

Answer 1

For the most part, atheists do not proselytize, or push their belief (or absence thereof) on others. They may present reasons they believe the way they do, and others can accept it or not, try to understand it or not, and become atheist or not.

Answer 2

Absolutely not. An atheist is simply a person who lacks a belief in the supernatural. An atheist does not accept the religious world view that supernatural deities control the destiny of humankind. Atheism is not an attack by any definition since it is simply a personal choice to forego religious doctrines and belief systems.
It is the Christian world that perceives itself to be extremely threatened by atheists. Because of that defensiveness they have attacked atheism through the ages and demonized atheists. On the other hand, atheists pay little attention to religionists unless to ward off an attack fueled by misconceptions. Atheists do not seek to indoctrinate others. They simply think for themselves.

Any person who is paying attention to world affairs can discern that religionists make up most of the world’s aggressors.

Answer 3

First off, atheism isn't a club, organization or social movement that has goals or objectives, an action plan to "destroy" Western Christianity or even organize a weekend camp out. It is a personal opinion that describes person's position that there is no god or gods.Secondly, unless you feel that people having an opinion different than you is a direct attack on the way you live (in which case never ask what flavour ice cream they want as it might not be your choice), you will not be able to point to any "attack" by atheists on anything.

Thirdly, most atheists do not care how much effort you spend on preserving your world view which they regard as placating the monster that lives under your bed. Your time and money is your time and money but don't ask them to support you - they would;t, after all. support a crack addict in his addiction.

Answer 4

SIMPLE ANSWER
It depends on the Atheist organization in question, but the most prominent groups of Atheists in Western society are Rationalist Skeptics who pose no serious threat to "Western Judeo-Christian Heritage/Culture". However, the State-Religionists, who are well-represented as a minority in the overall Atheist community, are a threat to "Western Judeo-Christian Heritage/Culture" because they actively oppose the political system of liberal democracy.

LONGER DISCUSSION

Definitions
First, we need to clarify what "Atheism" is. Atheism is not a belief system with any ideals, goals, or morals, just as Theism is not a belief system with any ideals, goals, or morals. All that a person knows through the designation of "Atheist" or "Theist" is whether a person believes that a god exists. Beyond that there is no core belief system implicit in those terms. There are numerous categories of Atheists who add belief systems to create a moral system since the religious moral system is no longer applicable.

The most prominent type of Atheists today are Rationalist Skeptics who believe that empirical results and the scientific method can be used to determine whether something is true or false and that information can be plugged into some sort of utilitarian system in order to determine its morality. The New Atheists like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Dan Dennett are famous Ratonalist Skeptics. Another type of Atheists are the State-Religionists, who believe in the validity of the founding ideals of a state or a political system as being the arbiter of moral justice. State-Religionists are usually termed as "nationalists" or "patriots" and have been behind most of the major democides of the 20th century, the Soviet democide, the Chinese democide, the Cambodian democide, etc. North Korea's Juche is often considered to be a state-religion which has actually crossed back into a Theistic Faith since it deifies Kim Il-Sung and his progeny. Still another type of Atheist is the Apatheist, which is person who does not believe in gods because he or she does not care to investigate the question, seeing it as irrelevant. The largest number of Apatheists are Atheist Buddhists, since the Buddha was himself an Apatheist according to his own writings. There are many other Atheist groups, but these are the most common.

Concerning Rationalist Skeptics
Most of the values that Christians traditionally associate with "Western Judeo-Christian Heritage/Culture" are supported by the Rationalist Skeptic Atheist community. Rationalist Skeptics simply argue that these same values actually derive from the Enlightenment or a Utilitarian Ethical Analysis. For example, one of the key values that Christians support is the idea of personal liberty, that the government should not infringe on key freedoms, like speech, property rights, and religious practice. These conservative Christians will argue that this is a development that comes from Biblical precepts about man's relationship towards God, the broken-ness of the world, and finite authority of a government. Rationalist Skeptics also support the idea of personal liberty, arguing that this was part of the doctrine of the Enlightenment, which strove to sever the authoritarian stranglehold of many governments at that time to promote free inquiry. The values are the same; simply their reasons for supporting them come from different places. Values like this include: personal responsibility, education, respect for military veterans, unity through values and diversity, environmentalism, human flourishing, promoting justice, confronting adversaries who would do fellow citizens harm, and valuing truth over comfort.

The one major set of issues where Rationalist Skeptics and Christian Conservatives tend to butt heads are issues where God or Christian beliefs are directly implicated, as opposed to those which are the result of human civilizational growth. These are issues like abortion, stem cell research, gay marriage, references to God in governmental mottoes, symbols, and songs, and Christian paraphernalia in public institutions (e.g. War on Christmas). These confrontations come more from the fact that Christian Conservatives are social conservatives while Rationalist Skeptics are not and, accordingly, see these acts as Christianity overstepping the church-state separation envisaged in liberal democracy.

Concerning State-Religionists
This group of individuals, usually strong Marxists or similar ideologues, do have their sights set on liberal democracy, usually believing it to be an intensely corrupt system. While these individuals reject belief in any supernatural deity, they have often deified the state, believing it to be capable of providing salvation. Under this rubric the State-Religionist will argue that a totalitarian state, constructed according to their ideological paradigm (be it a communist state, a nazi state, a militaristic state, etc.) will be able to protect them and all citizenry from any and all adversaries. This runs in direct conflict with the values of liberal democracy, wherein power and freedoms remain in individuals' hands.

Concerning Apatheists
Apatheists are either members of a non-theistic branch of an Eastern Religion, like Buddhism, which is not large enough nor focused enough to launch any kind of aggressive attack against "Western Judeo-Christian Heritage/Culture", or they are simply people who do not care about whether or not a god exists, which means that they would be thoroughly disinterested in launching any attacks; they just are not interested in the question.