Religion channels overload

[Feanor]

And for all of that bloviating, you still haven't addressed my point -- i.e., painting the world in ridiculously broad brushes without any proof. In case you forgot, atheism is itself rooted in a leap of faith (i.e., you cannot prove a negative). For all of your protestations about how religious people perpetuate hatred and closed-mindedness, I don't see much difference in your mindset. I've know plenty of atheists and religious fundamentalists in my life, and I'm fine with both, so long as there's a basic respect for one another's beliefs. I don't sense any of that from you, only contempt and the very close-minded ignorance that you accuse others of.

Steve Jobs totally got it right when he pointed out that the fundamental sociopolitical challenge isn't left vs right, but constructive versus destructive. I would put the arguments that you're forwarding in this thread under the latter.

I rarely rush to RGA's defence. He is given to hyperbole at times, (not to mention verbosity), and that's off-putting to say the least.

Apologists for religion like to assert that atheism is faith-based just like religion, or further, that atheism is a religion. This is a very dismissive point of view and generally invalid, IMO.

In my experience most self-admitted atheists I know are rationalists and skeptics who hold atheism as an intellectual position. Basically, while God might exist, i.e. epstemologically the existence of God cannot be disproven, his/her/its existence is highly unlikely. That is, God's existence has never been proven nor is his/her/its existence required to explain observed phenomenon. In this respect see Occam's Razor.

What frustrates atheists is their observation of the world were religion is the cause or exacerbant of almost all of the world's problems. Further, again as an intellectual position, they see little hope for a world were people are ruled by irrationality, rejection of empirical evidence, and superstition. Some atheists are moved to protest these states of affairs in a manner which isn't always as polite and gentile as it might be.

By the way, I suspect the Steve Jobs was meaning "destructive" in the happy, capitalist sense of "creative destruction" à la Mitt Romney and Blair Capital. Science too is a process of "creative destruction" where theories and challenged and reformulated for the advancement of knowledge. This is the antithesis of religion that adherences traditional received dogmas. Some atheists are quiet and polite, others see themselves as "creative destroyers" of bigotry and superstition.