I brought up the fact that atheists are the least popular minority in America to someone the other day and they replied with something along the lines of, “Perhaps, but it’s not like you guys are the victims of discrimination.”
I told him that it doesn’t happen as often as it does for other minorities mainly because unless someone tells you that they are an atheist then you’re unlikely to know about it in the first place, but that there are still examples of discrimination to be found:
The official reason for Cantwell’s firing in November 2006 was “poor job performance,” but the commission’s investigator, Barbara Lelli, said Cantwell received no written warnings about performance problems.
Cantwell, who was provided housing he shared with a non-married partner, two of his children and three of her children, said he was criticized by DeCoster, a devout Christian, who didn’t approve of the living arrangement.
On another occasion, DeCoster brought up God in a conversation, and Cantwell responded by saying he was an atheist and didn’t believe in God.
Cantwell told the investigator that DeCoster put his hand on his shoulder and told him: “I can’t have someone like you here. We might need to part ways.”
What’s he afraid of? That some freethinking cooties will rub off on him? Be a real shame if he suddenly developed an ability for reasoned thought.
Posted on 05/08/2007 at 11:42 PM 
It also just takes time for someone to work their way up the corporate ladder. I remember a decade or two ago the complaining of how after all the advancements in equality women have made by that time, there were not “enough” women in high powered positions. All I could think of was: what do you expect, that they should just promote a woman to the top without the requisite experience?
Yeah, I agree with you on that. Of course, there still is sexism in business, not blatant for the most part, but still there. Like racism, which still lingers, but is kept very low key.
I think it’ll take kids that grow up where race and sex aren’t considered things that make you “less” of a person to move into upper level positions as a majority before things will truly even out. Don’t get me wrong - it’s happening, but it does take time for the remnants of the “old guard” influence to go away.