CRUSADING atheists may not be god fearing but tend to have a stronger moral code than most, rather like investment brokers. But put in control of large sums of cash they are just as susceptible to temptation as the rest of us.

Two organisations, once controlled by a leader of the US atheist movement, said this week that more that £400,000 has gone missing from the accounts and that the administrator of these accounts is also unaccounted for.

American Atheists Incorporated and the United Secularists of America have reported the missing assets to the revenue service, according to press reports.

The missing administrator, Ms Madalyn Murry O'Hair, whose lawsuit lead to a landmark 1963 Supreme Court decision outlawing prayers in state schools, was last seen more than a year ago when she said she was going to New York to picket the Pope's visit.

Rumour has it that creditors are insisting on a change in the articles of association to reflect the sentiment that, while in God we don't trust, all others should also be subject to independent external audit.