They are truly scary and I sort of think it's what happens when you cast off faith (ANY faith) and then try to fill that spiritual void with something else.
Typically, the surrogate for faith makes people ridiculous (at best) or dangerous (at worst)...but, ALWAYS, arrogant and one dimensional!!
true story. One of my conservative producer friends had a series on crocodiles for AN Planet (hint: more than a few are on youtube) so he goes to Victoria, australia with the crew to film the croc “guardians”. A large segment of Oz beaches are either infested with crocs or sharks, take your pick. He asks off-camera why they keep tagging them when the places are clearly overrun with these dangerous animals and one of them clearly said “to get rid of the humans”.