@Arthur I agree with Steve when he (seems to) suggest it's easy to vilify an entity like say a 'communist' or a 'democrat'. It would appear to me that our inherent diversity, cultural, ethnic and geographic hinders ones ability to pigeon-hole such a disparate group. They need a solid discernible target in their crosshairs rather than the amorphous blob we are, it simplifies their objective and indeed their argument. Ideologies are better targets.

As to your debates, perhaps you could point out that every conceived religion thus far has a geographic root in it's birth and no two ever really agree, whereas the road to enlightenment requires only a few minutes honest perusal of holy books, a few existential self-questions, a few science lectures or a few brain cells. How else can one explain the fact that non-religious folk spring up even in the most diverse of religious lands, take Sam Harris and Ayaan Hirsi Ali for example, vastly different origins and upbringing, same lack of faith. It's a curious thing but whereas an American evangelist and African muslim will disagree and probably dislike one another, the American and African atheist will shake hands and drink a beer.