Good post, Musket. And, despite my fencing with him, I agree heartily with whatt you say about Dan. He's abysmally wrong about one thing, however:

"Each finds their own path to follow, faith or no faith it is entirely up to the path one wishes to choose."

Most people of faith haven't been allowed to find their own path but are welded to the rails of someone else's path. Their task is not to find faith for themselves, but it could well be to struggle to free themselves from someone else's faith.