Atheists

might more appropriately call themselves
'pagans',
though the word is much misunderstood:
it meant oaf or churl or hayseed,
yokel, peasant, cultchie, boor or boonie...
- in other words
someone too far beyond a town or village
to be monitored by Christians,
someone who revered a stream or tree,
a grotto, rock or phallic object,
moon-goddess or a god of fire.

But the only people to benefit
from any organised religion
(which atheism is fast becoming)
are the manipulative
and simple-minded,
whether dining in a Roman villa
or lurking in a medieval shire.