Militant atheism has become a religion

[Phillip McCleod]

263. i would agree that there are some atheists who are willing to speak openly..

..and those that will not, or only rarely and in the company of close and likeminded friends. many atheists if not most have lost loved ones or good friends when the they come out of the a-proverbial closet and made up their minds after that it didn't matter.

what happens is a circle of believers with one atheist are sharing their beliefs and it comes time for the nonbeliever to speak and everything they say is offensive to everyone else in the group. it's a double standard. there is no compromise to be had, simply because by merely opening our mouths and stating our genuine thoughts we elicit strong reactions from a broad swath of the believing population.

the only way we can be any more accommodating is to sit down and stfu, and this metaphorical genie is not willingly going back in the allegorical bottle.

edit. meant to add.. this outsized reaction has definitely attracted some trollish atheists, who nobody will deny exist.. the folks at freethoughtblogs talk about it all the time. The hot buttons are there and it's so easy to get some believers frothing, that the juvenile or particularly cynical.. or just atheists living in a red state.. are liable to have a chip on their shoulder on teh webz, the one place they say what they really think.