Speaking of rhetorical, are you saying anything said by someone articulating the stance of your church is to be taken with a pinch of salt should be verified with you first? (Phrased in a similar way to how you phrased one at me earlier.)

That's how it comes across Joe. You use the word "atheist" to mean some dark organised force working against superstition whereas the reality is a combination of indifference and seeing your leaders as medieval and increasingly irrelevant.

If religions didn't keep wishing to influence society at large they wouldn't come under so much scrutiny.

But they do

So they are.