I'm not dismissing anything. But if you don't believe in anything (which is fine), there's no need to make a big deal out of, ie no special treatment.

All that said I firmly believe in separation of church and state, with exceptions made only for a few historical traditions and only if most folks can agree they're harmless (MOST reasonable folks, I don't care about the few rabble- rousers who will never be happy . I actually don't think the pledge of allegiance is appropriate in schools because it is not really historical, ie it doesn't go back to our roots as a nation, it came into common use in the 1950's.