No brain washing and free porn, ah, the wonders of the internet.

I really agree with you on the feminism/atheism comments but I'm hesitant to say much for fear of the shrieking starting.

I think we need to admit that if there is a "danger" in atheism that requires mobilization it is the increasing use by religion of political power to impose their agenda on everyone. Most of the other issues (other than discrimination/bigotry) are more annoyances.

I think even a fair percentage of fundies know that a lot of it is simply pandering.

Have they forgotten about Ned Flanders? He's been the setup for many great Simpson's jokes.

Honestly I've thought of installing myself as high priest of some created religion to reap some of the benefits. Think about it - if someone tries to deny you, all you need do is claim discrimination and suppression of the free exercise of religion. It's practically fool proof.

I tend to be muted in my criticisms of the Catholic church. My wife was one of the boat people who escaped Vietnam. When she and her family arrived in Thailand and had to resort to eating sand fleas, the Catholic church was there to feed and clothe them.

I"m not sure if the positives outweigh the negatives, but I'll be the first to say that there are positives to the Catholic church.

I'm actually a bit more cynical. He had to "evolve" because the Democratic platform was going to have a statement in support of marriage equality. I suspect he'd have been quite happy to save his evolution until after the election.

I agree. It could be a case of winning a battle but ultimately losing the war.

Well we could use the techniques in the new Capital One commercial. I say rig up a switch that douses them in boiling oil.

I will say this - in the world of religious asshattery the occasional door to door wing nut is pretty small potatoes in my book.

This is actually a very subtle and nuanced issue. I think it comes down to two issues. The first is intent. It's perfectly fine to say things that people may take offense to; however, if you start out with the intent to offend then you're operating on a different level. I think the second issue is context. In my mind, it's perfectly fine to challenge people who have injected their views into the public discourse. It's another matter if someone makes a more personal expression of faith and you look them in the face and say "you don't believe that crap do you?"