There are some in this country that have a problem with the shit coming out lately by atheists. Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens all have books out, primarily railing about the ill effects of religion on society. Someone came up with a modifier to the atheist label. 'Militant' atheists have been lambasted by the more vocal apologists of theistic culture.

So this comes to mind as I'm perusing my new Facebook page, put up to display pictures taken with my digital camera. There are a couple of 'friends', some are avowed christians. One of them responded to a poll about believing in Jesus, and it shows up on their page when they do. I generally don't read others' pages, and rarely make comments, but I made a comment about this poll. Someone asked, in relation to the poll, that if Jesus is made up, why are we still talking about him 2000 years later. My response...

Muhammad is a hot topic too. So is the Quran. There are people that still believe the earth is flat as well.

I had many more harsher statements ready, but figured I should be nice in an effort to stave off the 'militant' label.

The point is that even making such comments as the one above will evoke the label. It is derogatory in nature, of course, but people that tend to use the term fail to see the hypocrisy of doing so. Back to the polls, there are many on facebook that ask the question about a deity or faith in general, but in their view this is ok. If I started spouting about atheistic concepts there, many would take offense at being exposed to such ideas, yet the same thing is perpetrated by 'christians' from behind their religious shield. It is unthinkable that someone should attack them, because the faithful are virtuous beyond measure. Historically though, hypocrites are blind to their own hypocrisy.