fathershane:

There are three possible kinds of God: the god of one’s own ego, in which the atheist believes, and which is also the god of modern confusionism; the god of nature, of stone and gold and silver, which belonged to the old religions of idolatry; and the Supreme God, who made both man and nature, and redeemed them both upon the Cross. Those who tell us that they deny the existence of God are merely substituting one god for another.

— Archbishop Fulton Sheen

First and foremost, an ego isn’t a god.  Egotism is tangible; egotism is supported by evidence.  Egotism is recognized in psychology.  Gods—your god especially—do not boast tangibility and evidential support; they do boast recognition in psychology, but for different reasons.  However, that isn’t the real issue; the real issue is that you’re calling atheists egotistical.  There’s nothing egotistical about governing one’s own life without the need to invoke a deity.  There’s nothing egotistical about thanking the doctor rather than thanking some god.  There’s nothing egotistical about believing in oneself.  There’s nothing egotistical about living now rather than serving now to live later in some unsubstantiated heaven!  This quote actually demonstrates a pathetic level of low self-esteem.  One who calls an atheist egotistical for not believing in a god and all that comes with belief in a god has a low self-esteem because such an individual is incapable of living life from an atheistic perspective.  Unfortunately, egotism is on your side of the fence.  The belief that you can speak to, influence and find favor in the creator of the universe is, to me, the height of arrogance—the height of egotism.  Moreover, people like you don’t have evidence for such a belief, but rather, you take it on faith.  Further still, you have reserved the right to tell others that they must accept your lord and savior as their lord and savior, and then you add a disincentive that says:  “no matter, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.”  Perhaps it is you who is substituting one “god” for another.  You have substituted a life meant to be lived by you for a life lived in servitude, and you have done so because you believe and not because you know.