Let me start of by saying I'm an atheist and I strongly voice my opinions.

I was recently fired from my job as an insurance risk annalist. When I was being confronted about why I was being fired or let go as they put it I was informed that it was because an important client who by the way had been in my face about being an atheist the entire time I was interviewing him gave me a bible and I threw it away in front of him. Now I took this as I was being fired for being an atheist and not wanting to have a bible sitting on my desk. They told me that I was being fired because we lost the client because of my actions.

Now I know it is illegal to fire someone for their religious beliefs but what are my rights in this matter? Could and should I pursue this in court? What would be the arguments that my attorney could focus on?

Thanks in advance for all the advice.

Being fired for your actions is a pretty ambiguous arena. If you do something that is strictly against company policy, then you can be fired as long as it doesn't alienate your basic rights under federal and state employment laws.

If you are hourly, you have more rights than if you are salaried. If you are in a state which is a "right to work", then you can be let go with even fewer repercussions. You might need to ask yourself what is it that you want to accomplish?

If you want them to rehire you, that one is going to be very improbable. If you want some kind of settlement or monetary judgement on early or improper termination, you will have to prove what they did wrong, how, when and have as much documentation as possible.

What it means is, in the end, if you want to fight them... it is going to cost you your own money to hopefully win your case in the long run.

Not worth it, and to me, I doubt you were in the right as far as customer relations.
BTW, here in NC, it's a "right to work" state. I'm also an atheist with my own opinions, but I know that being at work means you represent the company, especially with irate or irrational or stubborn customers (usually the important ones are one or all of these).