Steve, there are folks who are so indoctrinated that it may be impossible for them to think out of the box, so all they can do is react rather than respond rationally.

Blandiver, once more you've hit it out of the park! Your eloquence is like sweet music.

"Atheism is not a religion; it is the recognition of the objective, common reality we all share regardless."

I don't see how you can express it any more clearly than that.

There are militant everybodys and it's questionable that militancy on any subject can change anyone's mind.

Sometimes, militancy as in labor unions, is necessary when negotiations call for better working conditions. You might say Dr. King was militant when he lead the marches in Selma and beyond.

But I dispute the idea that Dawkins is militant. I find him reasonable, somewhat dispassionate except when it comes to Darwin and how the Creationists are attempting to destroy the scientific principle of evolution. Here, I applaud his militancy and it is not a religion but a critique of it. To talk about the "god delusion" is not especially militant but opening a conversation for those who can handle the subject without getting their backs up in reaction. Dawkins has had gentle debates and discussions with some of his friends who are vicars and religionists but at no time were the debates filled with invectives, hurt feelings,
insults and brickbats thrown like we've seen here.

If we use the term militant as a pejorative, then any writer who has something passionate to say could be labeled militant. The biblical Jesus was certainly militant and what could be more militant then the sadistic deity in the Old Testament?