Just by looking at the church news section of every Wednesday’s Daily Press, one might assume that everyone – at least, everyone in in Cherokee County – believes in God.

That, of course, isn’t true. But a recently released book by non-believer Sam Harris goes a bit further than John Lennon’s lyrical advice to “Imagine there’s no heaven.”

Harris’ book, “Letter to a Christian Nation,” proposes that religion -- not just Christianity, but all religions – is actually making life on earth more difficult for humans.

Harris’ book is just the latest of attacks on theism, including “The God Delusion” by one of the worlds most noted atheists, Richard Dawkins.

Dawkins has said religion is dangerous because it “gives people unshakable confidence in their own righteousness” and “gives them false courage to kill themselves, which automatically removes normal barriers to killing others.”

Harris recently told the Associated Press: “Even the most progressive faiths lend tacit support to the religious divisions in our world. Religious moderates systematically deny the role that religion is playing in human conflict. They tend to play hide the ball with faith here, and they talk about these problems as not being the result of real religion: ‘Osama bin Laden is not a real Muslim.’ Well, he’s about as real as it gets. And likewise, with these Christians who think they’re going to be raptured so they can witness us all hurled into a sea of fire. They’re real Christians who are really taking the Bible seriously.”

But not all atheists write books about their religious views or lack thereof. Take, for example, Michael Crowe.

“The great thing about this country is people are free to believe any religion they want, but they are also free to believe no religion, too,” he wrote in an e-mail interview.

“I’m not going to tell someone not to believe their religion, and I appreciate it when they don’t tell me I’m wrong for not believing the same way they do. They might think I’m going to burn in hell, and that’s fine. I think they’re already suffering in ignorance and superstition. The important thing is, we don’t have to shoot each other over such a ridiculous disagreement.”

But Jared Schopper, minister at Boudinot Baptist Church, sees atheism a bit differently.

“It’s mental pride,” Schopper said. “The atheists say, ‘We have thought this thing through; we’re right and you’re wrong.’ They say, ‘Your God is invisible,’ but Jesus was not invisible when he died on the cross.”

Schopper said the adversity faced by believers only strengthens their belief, and that the resilience of the Hebrew people in the face of millennia of adversity is good evidence of that.

“We have found the persecution of people who call themselves Christian leads to not the abandonment of Christianity, but to a deeper faith,” said Schopper. “There have been movements to stamp out the church, and they have failed.”

Thea Nietfeld, minister at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tahlequah, said the Unitarian view is that a person’s behavior means more than his or her words, and that some Unitarians consider themselves atheist.

“Our religious tradition is based on how we live in this world,” said Nietfeld. “We see atheists who are very ethical, who are very concerned about the common good and the state of the world. The metaphysics are less important.”

Nietfeld sees frustration by some folks about the conflict and violence caused by religion. But everyone, she said, still needs something to provide some structure to their lives – even if that structure doesn’t come in a form that can be described as “God.”

“I think there’s something in us that yearns for a framework, and I think that framework can be philosophical,” she said. “I think that framework is what people need, and we don’t even need to call it religion.”