Atheiphobia is the unreasoning fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against atheists or agnostics. It can also mean hatred, hostility, or disapproval of atheist or agnostic people, atheist or agnostic behavior, or cultures, and is generally used to insinuate bigotry. The term Atheophobic means "prejudiced against atheists or agnostics people," and a person who is atheiphobic is a atheophobe.

The word atheiphobic, when used to label someone as prejudiced against atheist or agnostic people, can be a pejorative term, and the identification of a group or person as atheiphobic is nearly always contested.

I coined the phrase during a animated discussion of the blatant insulting bigotry portrayed by 2008 US presidential candidate Mitt Romney while dealing with a heckler that one can view in the clip bellow

He says that "We need to have a person of faith lead the country". It's ironic that in one statement he was able to be tolerant and bigoted at the same time: tolerant of religious people, but bigoted against the non-religious. He apparently isn't aware of the "no religious test" clause of the Constitution.

It occurred to me, during this discussion that non-atheist/agnostics are not aware of the discrimination and insult resulting from such statements because the English language lacks a simple and term for classifying such hatrid and bigotry.

Had this word existed earlier, people could have been yelling "Atheipobic!!!" after this statement was said. Since it had not yet been invented at the time, atheists and agnostics and their supports had to wait out the event and then discuss the issue at a later time, so that they would have the time to explain the complex damage that he caused.

All is not lost, we can and should at all opportunities call Mitt out as an "Atheopobic" when ever the opportunity present themselves. If you happen to have the opportunity to attend one of his upcoming events, you can contribute to protecting the rights and opportunity of the atheist and agnostic community, by holding up signs and yelling "Atheiphobic".

Atheist - A person to be pitied in that he is unable to believe things for which there is no evidence, and who has thus deprived himself of a convenient means of feeling superior to others. —Chaz Bufe, The American Heretic’s Dictionary