So many atheists seem intent on recreating what they reject- they replace going to church with some other kind of meeting, they try to convert everyone else, they are always finding heretics, etc. etc. They might as well have stayed in a religion! They take all the fun out of being an atheist, basically.
How do you mean? Theistic backsliders, as I suppose?
Do you know who the patron saint of science is? It's Albertus Magnus, a 13th century naturalist and encyclopedist. I have always thought that the real and true Patron Saint of Science is Giordano Bruno, who was after all martyred for the cause of free thought, as he freely and knowingly submitted himself to his fate in confidence of the knowledge of his own rightness.
There is another martyr of science written of in THE CHEESE AND THE WORMS by Carlo Ginzburg. He was a 16th century Italian miller known as Menocchio, who was given to cosmological speculation and brought to trial for heresy. He recanted, but was brought to trial again after persisting in his speculations. At this trial he submitted himself to his fate and spoke freely:
Preaching that men should live in peace pleases me, but preaching about hell, Paul says one thing, Peter says another, so that I think it is a business, an invention of men who know more than others ... I did not believe that paradise existed, because I did not know where it was.