Still, why did it take us all roughly 1,400 years (from the oaths of Theodosius in 395, to the quiet dropping out and slipping away of the American Transcendentalists in the middle-early 19th century),

for the insanity and absurdity, and utter intellectual insufficiency of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, (and the inarguable good sense of atheism) to be realized by the majority of responsible citizens?  Et bien, the sticking point, according to the (ridiculously bad) philosopher John Locke, has been the fundamental, but quite irrational, belief held to by John Locke and his self-annointed fellow responsible citizens, that, without at least a generic belief in God, people will not be virtuous enough to be responsible citizens (God being the source of virtues).  Silly-ass, circular reasoning like this has long held the governments of this world lock'd in the embrace of their official religions, and are yet popular (and thought to be persuasive) among Mahometans.