Last Summer,I had a discussion with a 73 year old liberal who is also an atheist.
He was kicked out of a local atheist group for actually defending religion. He believe organized religion was very good in helping many people with it’s emphasis on food distribution,homeless programs and counseling services.
Although not a believer in religion and not anti-religious at all,he recognized the positive aspects of organized religion.
he claimed The group that kicked him out was more interested in bashing religion, especially Christianity then discussing ‘philosophy of life’.
He was kicked out of a local atheist group for actually defending religion.
As an atheist in NYC, I happily give a hard time to those so-called 'new atheists' who denigrate religion. Most in the community don't have any problem with religion, but there are definitely some outspoken idiots out there.
And I've run across some of those so-called 'brights' - it's always fun to point out that their name makes them sound like know-it-alls (as others have rightfully posted here).
Of course, they *really* hate my Palin t-shirts, which makes me wear the shirts even more :-)