Perhaps one day the penny will drop. Using religion to bolster opinions of others is about as good a personal insult as you can get?

My "piss taking" on any thread where people are judged by their faith or lack of will be my contribution and those doing so will get short shrift from me regardless.

If people are shallow enough to think that "atheist" means either promoting a stance or having an aversion to someone else's stance, they really should go out and buy a new dictionary. Whether you like it or not, atheist is the whitewash liberally coated onto the backs of the millions of people for whom religion or indeed lack of doesn't form any part of their makeup.

I suppose that trying to advocate the point to those for whom religion either holds them together or has hitherto broken them isn't ever going to get me anywhere? Doesn't alter the fact though all the same.

Interestingly, having just put the phone down and thought about it, I ask myself if my overall indifference to organised religion has been tested by these many debates?

No.

Not a single jot.

I still respect those for whom the belonging and comfort blanket means a lot. I still fail to understand how those who take it literally can retain their faith and I still get angry when those in positions of power try to inflict religious values on the secular majority.

But that doesn't describe "atheist. " It describes Musket and by a remarkable coincidence describes Ian.