I have never met a happy atheist. I believe in separation of church and state, but I think we have gone so far over in the other direction of separating church and state.
I do think actually in this case the government does get credit for funding some of the basic research.
As film-makers, it is very important for us to find common ground between cultures, and maybe that's less the case for politicians who benefit more from finding the conflicts and differences between us.

