[quote=Protagonist]The thing about Atheists is that they generally make many of the same fallacies as religious folk. This is in fact, why I consider Atheism to be a religion. They have principles, people who spread their gospel out to all mankind, and a view on providence and how the universe operates on a spiritual level.[/quote]

Only if you're referring to something like atheism+. But then even, that's not really a Religion but rather third wave feminists uniting as atheists.

Atheism itself is strictly not believing in a God, it is the lack of religion or theism (Hence: A-theist). There is no code or gospel to spread around, granted many atheists tend to default to science to treat as fact. But that's not a matter of having a gospel of codes and morals to spread, that's a matter of "Here's what we experimented/tested, here's what we proved to be true". But you'll even get many atheists claim stuff like "Ghosts are real", "Aliens have landed on earth", "The Moon landing was a fake", "Spirits are real", "We will reincarnate" etc. None of which are proven by science, none of which are beliefs that atheism demands anyone to have, but you get it all the time.

[quote=Protagonist]As for the morality of religion in general: Religion has no particular ethics, it's a tool like any other for one to better themselves by creating understanding or illusion of understanding of the spiritual nature of the cosmos and the purpose of its believer. As for Christian Ethics, I can testify first-hand that an extensive reading and re-reading of the bible does not make one into an atheist.[/quote]

Except you know, all the ethics of stoning disobedient children, killing those who work on Sunday or eat fish, rape victims who don't scream loud enough, supporting slavery and the rape of virgin women etc. Granted, you've also got the stuff such as shall not kill, steal, covet etc. But the Bible is full of ethics and values it tries to teach people.

Reading the Bible may not turn everyone into an atheists, but a lot of people do become atheist as a result. It is a common result of reading the Bible.
Oddly enough, if you go into enough religious debates you'll often find that atheists know more about the Bible than Christians do on average... And I'd be lying if I said personal experience didn't verify this for myself, most of my family who is christian either never bothered to read the bible, or decided it was irrelevant to being a Christian. But most atheists I know have had experience with the Bible, may it have been out of pure curiosity, the reason they became an atheist, or looking to better understanding who they may debate against.

[quote=Protagonist]Despite everything, I still hold God to an ethical standard that I would find utterly unreachable in humans.[/quote]

I assume by this you mean he is so moral/upright we cannot even compare or understand? If so, I'd like to ask why the genocide of children, rape victim's and non-Christians is seen as a moral act. Especially considering they are most likely going to burn for eternity, not be happy up in heaven.

[quote=Protagonist]As for the topic of religious extremism, there's only ever been one Christian extremist. His name was Jesus Christ.[/quote]

Not much I can really say here... Brovo already pointed out most of the extremist's.
Though I would also like to draw at least some attention to the KKK and the Westboro Baptists.
A good amount of Nazi's too.

[quote=Protagonist]As for the topic of "if I found out God doesn't exist, would I rape and murder?" No.[/quote]

That's the reaction I expected out of people :P
It's always nice when expectations like that actually hold up.

[quote=Protagonist]The way I see it, whether or not God exists is somewhat irrelevant: we must act like he does.[/quote]

Why? 

If God doesn't exist, why must we act as he does rather than on a moral structure that has been debated and reasoned out?

[quote=Protagonist]To turn the tables: If you found out that God existed, what would your response be?[/quote]

Assuming proper proof/evidence was given?
I'd look to find out which God, then try to find any holes/flaws with the Religion I could find and ask said God to explain why they are there.

How I think of them afterwards depends on their answer. But how I live my day to day life would largely be the same, I'd recognize _______ God as fact just like anything else in Science and move on with my life.