I hardly think Dawkins et al are illiterate morons. They are very intelligent, but I don’t always agree with them. I don’t always agree with everyone. I have my own mind and I use it. Ironically, sometimes I {gulp} agree with Christians. The thing is, sometimes people go to extremes to get their point across and I’ve never been one for extremes. If I’m not in trouble with one side, I’m in trouble with the other because I don’t discriminate on who call concerning behaviours. If I feel the behaviour is inappropriate, I say so.

ditto. that describes me pretty well too. I’ll also add that I’m glad the “4 horsemen” as they are called wrote their books, I think books like that were long overdue.

No, not illiterate and moronic, just sloppy and simplistic. Not the same thing.

The anti-appeasement atheist writers such as Shalini, or P.Z. Myers (and, although I hesitate to compare myself to the giants) tend to criticize as appeasers those who single out Dawkins, Hitchens, etc. as problematic.

Not always. They also tend to see anyone who doesn’t agree with their tactics as appeasers-it’s black and white, either you do things our way or you’re an “appeaser”, nevermind what you actually do say or do. That’s especially evident in Shalini’s blog. You can like and applaud Dawkins et. all without always agreeing with some of the above bloggers. They are not one in the same. Just b/c this cartoon was put up, I’d say that’s a long way from saying Dawkins et. al are illiterate morons. Stop jumping to conclusions and chill out.

One must conclude, then, that you see Dawkins, etc. as illiterate morons.

I don’t find the comic that funny. I see it as an attack on your critics at least as vitriolic and ridiculously reductionist as what you criticize in others, and exposes your own hypocrisy.

Although I could never be an aggressive atheist myself – it’s just not in my nature at all – I do think those who take that stance are doing all atheists a service. At the very least they’re keeping the aggressive Christians (somewhat) busy.

Thanks for the compliments, guys.

Especially when that job involves dealing with tools.

As for aggressive atheists, I come across two kinds. Some are just sick and tired of taking all the guff and have adopted a ‘no more Mr Nice Guy’ method. Does it work? Is if hurtful to ‘the cause’? I don’t know; time will tell.
The others are just using atheism as an excuse, similar to the way many religious people use their beliefs as an excuse to justify their jack-assery. This latter group includes teenager trying to freak out their parents, the douche that hacked Crosswalk.com, and the guy who got fired from Wal-Mart for not dressing as Santa. These people may or may not believe in a god, but they are not rationalists or freethinkers or part of the solution.