See... this is the one thing I hate about religious/political arguments, anywhere. They always seem to turn into flamefests.
Well, that, and it's extraordinarily difficult (in many cases impossible) to change someone's viewpoint on religion or politics.
The major reason I am an atheist is because I have a hyper-anaylitical mind. As such, every one of my beliefs MUST have some sorts of scientifically proven foundation behind them. A skeptical thought process, if you will. Many of the stories in the Bible require some degree of faith in order to be believable. Most people have faith, therefore they believe in the existance of a higher power. I, on the other hand, do not have faith in anything, really. As such, religion seems... contrived to me? Hard to say.
As for the value of religion in life, I believe that if a belief in and following of God improves your life, then by all means pursue religion. After taking a detailed stock of my life thus far, I determined that I personally receive no benefits from following religion, and I could be spending my time improving myself in other ways, so I just dropped it. Having parents who fully support your choice of religion (or lack thereof) helps quite a bit, also.
I only really get angry when people try to shove their religious beliefs down my throat, or discredit me as a person for not believing in God. Which, I don't think anyone's done on this thread. Anyone who can still post here, that is.