You'd be hard pressed to find a community in England where atheists were driven out of their homes and suffered abuse from theists. For me, and my background, it tends to be the reverse. The theists are the ones most openly ridiculed.
If I was in the US and found that openly stating I was an atheist would lead to me being actively isolated from the community I would likely have a more serious attitude toward religious practices and institutions (although I am very open about my opposition to religious institutions rather than actual "religiosity")
If we're merely debating the relevance of a natural proof of a supposed unnatural "object" then the question itself is at fault.
Science makes no claim of "truth" or any such thing. Logic frames certain degrees of truth set within necessarily limited parameters. One thing we are sure of is that science means to cut away the subjectivity and does a damn useful job of presenting information with which we can put to use.
Essentially we're talking about logic here. Logic has a limit that is why it works so well for us and can be applied to our experiences.
Neri -
Clearly, science has advanced human knowledge far more than phenomenological navel gazing.
Does that actually mean anything?