"Atheism does not describe a wish to rid the world of religious superstition."
I'll drink to that.
Not sure what 'militant atheism' is - I've yet to see atheists terrorising pregnant women outside family planning clinics or, as is happening here in Ireland, pro-lifers (sic) mail-shotting the entire population prior to the Government, who has been forced into reviewing the law on abortion announcing its findings following the death of a woman who died in childbirth because, according to the doctors, "Ireland is a Catholic country".
I certainly am aware of 'articulate and vocal' atheists, but the "militants" of this world are those who forbid discussions on The Theory of Evolution, or the clergy who (way back admittedly, but still within living memory) physically broke up and tried to destroy traditional dancing, smashing musical instruments in the process, or the hospital staff who refuse to put "none" in the box marked "religion" on my entry form and instead put "not disclosed" or, when I lived in the UK, somewhat hilariously put "Church of England".
Jim Carroll