There is a pervasive stereotype in our society that all atheists are “angry” and “unreasonable.” There are certainly easy enough examples to which we can point: Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris…the list goes on. And while I admire these men and the work they’ve done…they seem to create a backlash that sometimes makes open debate and its original intent (finding common ground through argument and discussion) more difficult.

There are those who would say that the animosity is fostered by the constant type of insult and refusal to acknowledge one’s beliefs to which theists so often lay claim, as well as an insistence that we should not have to show respect for anyone’s claims if they can’t offer a shred of verifiable evidence. Those people have a point, but I think mine trumps it.

Facts are not enough to persuade a person from firmly held beliefs. “Well, they should be!” you exclaim, wrinkling your nose at the thought of how people could be so silly.  But we don’t live in a world of shoulds our oughts. We live in a world of humans, and human beings are arbitrary emotional animals (yep, said animals. We are, whether we want to acknowledge that or not). And as such, we adhere to our beliefs with…well, no other way to say it…religious zeal. Like many subjects, we have invested a great deal of emotion in our beliefs, and to be told that belief, that emotion is baseless is a very deep and personal insult.
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