Stringsinger,

This is a disguised ad hominem criticism by maintaining that it is an ego-driven pursuit to be "popular" and how do you know he is flattered by anything?

I know that many atheists who were not interested in biology at all, applauded Dawkins, e.g. his book "The Blind Watchmaker" (1986). In other words, they flattered him, in the hope of obtaining new arguments. I do not know whether Dawkins actually felt flattered or had other reasons, ego-driven or not, and I do not care particularly, but he shifted away from biology altogether in later years, notably in "The God Delusion" (2006).

I don't see that he has strayed to "Social Darwinism"

He occasionally suggests that Darwin's theory applies to sociological groups; after all, his perceived authority is based on his past successes in Evolution Theory. The effect is that some people demand privileges for their (often enough falsely claimed) "enlightenment". This I criticize strongly, whether or not Dawkins can be personally held responsible.

Militant means fighting, thus those who fight can be called militant - what else? Fighting can be honorable, depending on its cause and its means. Firefighters are heroes, and are seldom asked whether they actually hate fires.

Note that the Scripture fundamenatlist form a small minority among the targets of Dawkins's fight. Many religious functionaries have long publicly accepted Evolution Theory, sometimes adding their provisos in a way that cannot interfere with research. Their philosophy can still be questionable, of course, but Dawkins prefers to compare them to leprechaunologists.

My own view is that the whole discussion is misled because of grave misconceptions about the very notion and character of religion. Such misconceptions are shared by many atheists and most (!) speakers for religions. I wrote more on other threads; just one thing here (re Musket): the relationship between ethics and religion is much more complicated than commonly perceived; those who do good only in order to go to heaven, do so for ego-driven reasons and therefore rightly go to hell.