Here is an interesting question (probably asked by an American person) and a few Brits responded. The first response pretty much sums it up for me as to why Brits rarely engage in theism vs atheism discussions.

It would be interesting to know what other nations' attitudes towards theism/atheism are like, e.g., Canada, Australia, European countries, Asian countries, etc., etc.

Q: Are British people in general comfortable with atheism and atheists, or is it a dirty word and atheists can face social stigma?

A: Although we speak a similar language to our American cousins, our cultures are so very very different and sometimes it must be very hard to comprehend just how different they are.

1. In England our social lives do not revolve around the church or our religions.

2. People in the UK tend not to evangelize, it's socially unacceptable to force your religious beliefs on others and will make you very unpopular.

3. It is not acceptable to discuss religious beliefs in the work place.

4. You may never know if your friends, neighbours or even family believe in God at all let alone attend a church. It is a private matter.

5. You will very rarely see public figures pray or make any references to their faith.

6. We do not allow prayers to any gods before public meetings or gatherings or in the work place.

7. Religious discrimination is against the law, that means that even in our local Catholic school (which my strongly atheist son attends) they have a multi faith room where Muslims (or any faiths) can go to pray privately. It also means that you can not openly push any faith agenda in public places, you can't discriminate against someone purely on the basis of their faith or lack of faith.

8. People do not make judgement on a persons worth based on their religions, we base it more on actions.

9. We tend to sleep in on Sundays and use it as a family day.

10. There is no ‘Sunday rush hour‘ or any obvious change in traffic around religious services, not enough people attend church to make a difference.

11. People very rarely just offer thoughts and prayers in times of crisis, it's seen as a waste of time and an empty gesture. It is more common for people to offer practical assistance.

12. No one in the UK has ever said ‘I will pray for you‘ to me. I was shocked by how many people said it to me in the USA.

13. I have never seen anyone pray over a meal in public or in private, ever… until I went to America.

14. We do not have mega churches, TV evangelist type things, people don't donate money to random preachers.

15. We don't have the levels of church attendance in the UK that the USA does for any of the multiple religions. For example in our whole neighbourhood I know of only one family who regularly attend church and I only found out by accident because I happened to be out walking my dog when they were leaving for church and I overheard the mother saying ‘hurry up we are going to be late AGAIN!’ One of my close friends I know is Muslim only because when she comes for dinner we avoid pork etc. She makes no big deal out of it and offers to bring her own food when she comes over!

16. We really don't have to mention being atheist because it really never comes up. There is no shame because it's a non issue.

A: Nobody in the UK uses the word atheist or atheism, because nobody discusses religion. We live in a true secular country where religion is a personal thing.

There are people who I have known for twenty to thirty years and I couldn’t tell you what, if anything, they believe in. This is how a modern, tolerate, civilised society lives.

Read on if you are interested: [divineatheist.quora.com]