Utterly embarrassing: we’re the only state whose counties went 100% red.

You were trying to argue that Cline was only talking about “gross immorality,” the extreme to which “no matter what” was supposed to point, according to you. I pointed out that this wasn’t the case.

there are times when not being nice — when incivility or derision — are called for. This is most plainly the case when we are faced with gross immorality [emphasis added]

Clearly, he thinks that gross immorality is only one circumstance where incivility may be called for. Gross immorality is merely the plainest of these circumstances. Now on that much, I agree with him, but I doubt that we agree much on what circumstances do call for incivility. The last part is especially telling:

Saying “I’m an atheist, but…” is an indirect way of apologizing for being an atheist in the first place

Nonsense! Is saying “I’m a Christian, but …” or “I’m a animal right activist, but …” necessarily apologizing for being either of those things? “I’m a fill-in-the-blank, but …” is also a way of saying that one is not amongst the crazies in the fill-in-the-blanks. I don’t care to be lumped in with those credulous enough to buy pseudohistory so long as it’s anti-religious, or someone who calls an argument infantile only to come up with a needlessly half-assed rebuttal, or someone who dilutes the meaning of “child abuse,” or someone who responds with a non sequitur to an accusation that he is unscientifically making sweeping claims about Islam and religion with poor data.

Aj:

You don’t actually care what he is trying to say

Actually, I do care about what he is trying to say, but it doesn’t take much to read between the lines. Austin Cline is responding to assorted criticisms from some atheists to other atheists. However, instead of doing this directly, he comes up with a picture of an Uncle Tom where the depictions of criticisms are recognizable on the one hand but on the other hand, are distorted as well. It’s a cutesy way variation on the Neville Chamberlain gambit, but tweaked so as to avoid the appearance of Godwinning.

b) I said what I meant clearly and with a simple example to make sure you understood.

c) It’s “no matter what they are being criticized for” meaning whatever the “religious theists” are doing, that is being described as “gross immorality”.

You don’t actually care what he is trying to say, you’re just being hypercritical for some reason.

Actually, it’s an expression referring to a wide gamut of possibilities. I understand what you are trying to say, namely, that “no matter what” isn’t literally “no matter what.” The catch is that even given that, “no matter what criticism” still includes a wide range of criticisms, and unless Cline is aiming at a phantom, he is aiming at criticisms that have actually been made. These criticisms include “You have an electrical fire in your head” and “You are infantile,” and understandably, these are the sorts of things that invite the calls for civility of which Austin Cline speaks.

This is exactly why I don’t buy into Christians who make apologies on behalf of The Church(TM).

We’re no longer discussing “gross immorality” at this point, but rather criticism of any kind, and if we take Austin Cline’s “no matter” seriously, that even includes unfair criticism.

It’s an expression refering to extremes. I understand if English isn’t your first language that you may not understand this convention. When someone says “anything goes” they’re not talking about the “anything”, they’re talking about extremes.

Also, notice that he’s using the term “religious theists” here rather than “religious bigots” or “religious bigotry.”

Austin Cline’s point is that it’s because they’re “religious theists” that they get a free pass. It’s not because they’re “religious bigots” that they get a free pass, and it’s not necessarily bigots he’s talking about when he is refering to gross immorality.