As God Himself is dharma, the dereliction of dharma is tantamount to the neglect of God. We often worship God through a picture or an idol. There are however some atheists, agnostics, rationalists and humanists who adore dharma itself and treat it as synonymous with God. Such people cannot be regarded as atheists, for their apparent atheism is theism in disguise. Dharma is their God who in fact is the embodiment of dharma. This deification of dharma is itself theism. On the other hand, there are many people who pray to God, but ignore dharma in practice. Such people are not really theists. (S S Sm. Vol. 6 p.260)