It doesn't if the atheist doesn't care about integrity and standing up for his convictions.
Oh, I'll stand up for my convictions. But in deeds, which are better than words. And to do the deeds I have to be alive.
Who do you suppose does more good? The secret Jew sympathizer who smuggles refugees out of Nazi Germany, or the outspoken Jew advocate who stands up for his convictions, all the way to the gas chamber? Not to put too fine a point on it.
Anyone can die for what they believe. Living for what they believe does a lot more good, though.
I couldn't stomach the hypocrisy of praying to some false god the rest of my life.
Speaking as an atheist, one finds that since one was doing that before anyway, it's not all that hard to go back. I mean this actually comes up in real life. As an atheist, do you go with your family for Christmas services? Of course I don't believe a word of it, and I feel silly singing hymns to a made-up god, but I do it for my family. My wife and I got married in a church for the same reason. Better I should swallow some brief hypocracy than make my family feel bad, after all they've done for me.
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