I'm not sure what nerve I hit there Rabi, but look again..., I said "almost". I didn't say they were one.  My Pa. Dutch Grandmother is more German than Dutch.  But the two have crossed lines since settling in Pa. 

"German" could be a reference to the language, the culture, the nationality, or the 'ethnicity.' And in fact all of which are probably meaningfully divisible into important sub-sets. Same with Dutch I would think.

So I was not asking, nor implying that Dutch and German are equivalent cultures, nationalities, ethnicities, people, or places. But the languages are rather similar no?

Also, I know from having lusted for a Danish social worker girl I went with in Botswana all those years ago (least this is what she told me. . .) the languages of Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish are all fairly similar, not exactly the same--they ARE different languages, not just dialects (sort of like Spanish, Italian, and Latin), but nonetheless there are many shared cognates, and they are pretty much mutually intelligible (unless somebody intentionally speaks fast, or uses obscure language).

That is a shame if Atheists are being biased against. Maybe you guys should have a crusade and burn religious people at the stake or something?