“I just want to say to my atheist friends. Some of my best friends are atheists. And some of them are also the best people I know and it is ridiculous that people would think that you are somehow less moral or less worthy of the full protection and enjoyment of all of our virtues as a society because of your religious beliefs. In that case, it’s just that your religious beliefs are that god does not exist. And that to me is just as sound of personal philosophy as someone who is brought up in organized religion. So let’s make that the case that atheism gets the respect that it deserves.”