Which fears have no basis in historical or present reality.
Your neighbors whom you apparantly fear are the most kindly and tolerant people in the history of humankind.
Maybe I shouldn't, but I have these paranoid fears that vindictive theists want to burn me and those who believe like me at the stake
reads a lot differently than:
If only you were really talking about red and blue, but you're not, you're actually talking about religion. Maybe I shouldn't, but I have these paranoid fears that vindictive theists want to burn me and those who believe like me at the stake, even if metaphorically.
That last clause is essential in underlining that I'm not really talking about being burned at the stake. Without it, I sound like a rambling nutbar who's afraid the good christians are going to come kill me, not merely marginalize or censure me.