Whatever one's personal beliefs the major world religions differ from folklore and fantasy on size and membership at least but that's lost on materialists.

How can there be limits on such things just because of numbers? A community is a community; fantasy is fantasy & folkore is folklore. Having been brought up Essentially Secular in a supposedly XTIAN UK then the accomodation of such Hoo-Hah and Horse Chocolate (rather than its outright dismissal) becomes a matter of some urgency with respect of a move towards a greater material enlightenment, which is, as I say, common to every single one of us Human Animals on Planet Earth however so diverse we might be otherwise. In this I remain eternally optimistic, and my Atheism is both an outward expression and inner experience of that optimism.

If a Culture / Community chooses to believe in Christ, Klingon, or Harry fecking Potter it amounts to the same thing; I can appreciate this as long as a) they refrain from divisive fundamental righteousness and b) maybe think twice about indocrinating others - including their kids. Material reality is the Common Universal law, anything else is pure fantasy, which is fun until they come knocking at your door offering you salvation from your own humanity. People are free to believe whatever they like but once they assume that what they believe applies to anyone but themselves, that's when the trouble starts.

Atheism isn't a belief; it's a fundamental reality that aspires to all inclusive and accomodating humanistic and compassionate world-view. However if XTIANS are carrying around the idea that everyone but them is going spent eternity in HELL then - how on earth are we meant to accomodate that in the wider scheme of things? Thus I may be a tad vociferous in my encounters with JWs, Mormons and other Random Proselytisers who accost me at home or abroad, otherwise, I'm open to a healthy debate as part of the Human Crack.

So - XTIAN is not a wind-up term; neither is strictly correct (as pointed out by Nigel Parsons above); it's simply a convenient shorthand, like XMAS, derived from the Chi-Ro adopted by the early church and still used as an icon by various Xtian churches today. If Xtians feel it somehow crosses out Christ then that's fair enough because in the unlikely event of Christ pulling off this second coming, and judging by things he actually said during his ministry, the Xtian churches would be the first thing to go. He'd sweep them all aside just as he threw the money lenders out of the temple and resume his usual habit of hanging around with outsiders and outcasts, the same folk I've seen routinely ejected from Manchester Cathedral least their presence offend the more deserving clientelle.