Ophelia Benson, who is clever and knowledgeable, has been having a go at me in comments and I think she makes a very instructive rhetorical move.
But Andrew, it's not that atheists want crosses removed, it's that secularists do. Of course there is overlap, but that's beside the point. It is perfectly possible to be a believer and not want religious symbols in state schools or other state offices. The reasons for not wanting religious symbols in state schools are secular, and those reasons protect believers at least as much as they do non-believers.
The assumption here is that there is a large group of secularists, and within them a smaller group of atheists, like the toy within a Kinder Surprise; and that any secularist, whether atheist or not, thinks that the crucifix should be removed from the classroom. And this just isn't true.
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