I concede that Steve is right. I was hoping for some enlightenment and I found it
mainly in Steve's and Blandiver's posts. I see how religion causes wars, how it works here on Mudcat which is a microcosm of what's happening in the world today.

The US is engaged in a religious war and the "god bless America's" ring hollow.

In the meantime, this thread has changed no one's mind and has made participants entrenched in their own views. I was hoping for better.

I see Franz de Waal's point and Richard Dawkin's point. I don't think waving a banner for "atheism" amounts to much because of the very ambiguity of the term.
I think that "Militant Atheism" is a false flag as well since it postulates a mythical
idea.

I remain open to the possibility that someone can scientifically prove that there is a god but so far there has been only prejudice, defensiveness and no evidence for the existence of any deity. This is also Dawkin's position and I find it rational.

I maintain that the original posting of "militant atheism has become a religion" is an attack on non-believers. It was a dogmatic assertion that has had very little real value in a rational discussion on this thread. I regret this because this is an issue that is not going away. Attacks on non-believers has become institutionalized by some branches of all the major religions and instead of deploring this, there has been silence from most religious communities to stop them from happening.

There are some outspoken religious reps who do, such as Chris Hedges, formerly of the New York Times. Pope Francis has shown acceptance of non-belief also.
But they are rare. Mostly it is those who are outside of the religious net who call attention to the persecution of non-believers such as Aayan Hirsi Ali, Salmon Rushdie, Susan Jacobi and other rational thinkers.

Most of the time, attacks on non-believers are ignored or dismissed as "crap"
and the major religions are enablers to isolate and persecute.

There is a war on ideas, here, that is prevalent throughout the world and it's
resolution will be when the smart-assed remarks, vindictive assertions, dismissal of this issue, ridicule, and stubborn clinging to delusional and out-moded ideas subside.

There is nothing wrong essentially with anyone having a "faith" or delusion but unfortunately, when it comes down to how it's applied through actions, "the devil is in the details". (Pun intended).