What is the big deal of Atheism?

[Luck]

All I can say about athiests is that, well, when you die you've got a 50% chance of going to Hell. (I hope that someone understands this. I've had to explain this particular statement in numerous discussions about religion)

That's…that's not true at all actually. It's very wrong considering how many different religions there are.

(It also sounds a lot like Pascal's wager which is an awful scare tactic not based on any evidence whatsoever, but you didn't say it in such a way)