Actually, I am an atheist as well. It was meant as an act of respect for the people that donated their bodies so we could learn how to take care of the living and we all felt it was a wonderful gesture.

When I was taking anatomy, they made it very clear to us that we need to be respectful of our cadavers. They were people who had lives and families. We even had the school chaplain pray over them to reinforce the seriousness of the situation. It was an honor to have an actual cadaver to dissect and not have to learn our anatomy in a book (before internet was in general use). I heard rumors of things that had happened in the past but our group was very careful. I hope this reinforces to others how serious this is.