Remember that at the time Marx wrote about religion being the opium of the people,
opium was not all that unpopular so it was not written as an insult but an observation.

Steve, de Waal is brilliant but his words can be conveniently twisted to say things he didn't mean. It's best to read "The Bonobo and the Atheist" and not let his words be filtered through someone else's agenda. As for your English, it is well constructed and quite articulate.

Blandiver, those who holler loudest about being judged are often the most judgmental.

I like your statement about " pragmatic realities of linguistic mutability," expressed very well. "Spirituality) will always be out there in the wilderness happy evading capture by those for whom words are absolute." Well said.

The notion of "Spirituality" is a smoke screen for religious adherence because it is undefinable. It's a substitution for the disenchanted from organized religion.

It plays like a broken record but must be said again to be understood, atheists are not of one mind and do not subscribe to any tenet. They as a group often disagree and the only glue that holds them together is non-belief which is not a religion.

Sometimes you have to separate the message from the messenger. I don't always agree with Hitchens but here's a pointed an poignant statement. "The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed."

Here's another. "If god really wanted people to be free of [wicked thoughts], he should have taken more care to invent a different species." True, this is a narrow view of a god but none has been offered to take its place that is rational or verifiable.