the social problem of atheism

Ok, so you are convinced there is no god and you are sure that you want to renounce the whole religion thing, so you go ahead and... get stuck with one problem - The problem of the vacuum!
When you are religious, there are certain rituals, celebrations, prayers and addnl. paraphernalia that give some "meaning" to the whole jingbang. Lets put it this way - towards the end of the year, hindus celebrate diwali, muslims celebrate id, christians celebrate christmas, atheists twiddle thumbs.
Some atheists give up and spend time celebrating their former religious festivals anyway, but thats a band aid solution. It is not a very nice thing for the long term.
you see, festivals are only partly religious, they also serve other purposes - they help bring people together, it is an opportunity to meet old friends, make new ones, business gets settled, partnerships are formed, marriages get finalized and finally, it is simply a way of having a "mass good time". The rituals that exist also serve a partly non-religious purpose - think about going to church, the shared rituals partly serve as glue for the community.
Perhaps atheists too need to evolve into a community - a community with traditions, rituals and rules and regulations. Perhaps it sounds binding, but the rules could be simple - respect life, help your neighbors. the rituals could be useful too - perhaps a renactment of darwin getting the first idea of evolution. Tradition could be turned on its head by having the tradition of regularly examining our traditions and beliefs :)
There are benefits to becoming a community - real tangible benefits! in the diamond age, NS talks about a freelance thief who steals from many people, but finally meets his end when he steals from and injures a member of the Ashanti, who are even today a successful group with a strong sense of identity. In another part of the book, he talks about the benefits of belonging to tribes, especially tribes that are massively successful.
I know where I am now, I do not belong to any tribe and i know ther are times when i would want to - and i know that my tribe does not bother about color, race, caste, language, or birth. the tribe-to-be that i belong to worships more than anything the god of reason. The high priest here is mathematics. This tribe-to-be has yet to evolve a culture of its own, rules of its own, it has no tradition expect for the tradition of asking questions and looking for real answers, not mystical ones.
But there is a lot missing from this tribe: a sense of belonging is chief amongst them, rituals full of meaning, perhaps even a sense of outrage...