Cynosure

There must be some miscommunication here. And looking back at what I wrote, it looks like the fault is mine.

What I meant to say is, it's probable that some of those politicians and corporate leaders who are self-proclaimed Christians, and who have been active and gained power amidst the fear-mongering that followed 9/11, are closet atheists.

And why not? We know that some self-proclaimed heterosexual Christian leaders who preached against homosexuality, have been found out to be closet homosexuals; and while these two-faced preachers were spewing persecution and damnation against homosexuals with one face, they were sucking some secret male lover's dick with their other face. (The most recent and widely known example of this is Ted Haggard, a man who was an outspoken and rallying leader of the 30-million strong National Association of Evangelicals, and who Time magazine reported in 2005 as one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in American politics, and who was a big supporter of the Bush administration.)

However, I think it's much easier for a closet atheist to keep his secret, than it is for a closet homosexual. Especially so in these modern times, with investigative reporting and mass media, and with virtually instantaneous communication. But until a mind-reading machine or something like that is invented, it will continue to be hard to discover, let alone prove, that a person is a closet atheist.

Again, that's not what I meant to say. What I meant was, it's possible – probable, even – that a person who happens to be an atheist, can be so manipulative and power-seeking (not necessarily because he's an atheist, mind you), that he operates behind a mask of religion because he sees religion to be such a powerful force, and because he finds himself in the right place, at the right time to take advantage of that.