When you get right down to it, "Atheist" is a stupid word.

[thucythucy]

56. I think "agnostic" refers to people,

such as myself, who are unable or unwilling to either believe or not believe.

The word "atheist" refers to those who have staked out a position of non-belief. I see it as an entirely useful word. I generally prefer seeing choices--in language and elsewhere--expanded rather than contracted.

As for religious people suffering some sort of "neurological disorder"--that's about as non-fact based as faith in a deity. Unless Maher can provide some science based evidence for this belief--brain MRI scans for instance that show specific areas of damage linked to faith--he's blowing just as much smoke as any Evangelical ranting about Jebus.

His position is also politically dangerous. Bear in mind that the Soviet Union used to define those who weren't happy in its "workers' paradise" as psychotic, often institutionalizing dissidents (including people of faith) and subjecting them to forced psychiatric "treatment." We see the same abuse of psychological terms by those pushing "conversion therapy" to turn gay people straight. Using medical terms to ostracize those with differing religious or political beliefs or different in other ways has a rather sordid history I think it best to avoid.

I agree though that, as you say, religion often provides people with a framework in which they can be happier than non-belief. I'm agnostic myself, but I have quite a few progressive friends who are religious, and I don't notice any particular pathology, though many of them do seem happier.

Best wishes.