> There is no "atheist" movement. At least not one that encapsulates anything but minute fraction of atheist/agnostics. I think you are in the wrong here. Only

> There is no "atheist" movement. At least not one that encapsulates anything but minute fraction of atheist/agnostics. I think you are in the wrong here. Only a small fraction of people self identified as "christian" (to speak of an example I actually know about) forms part of the clergy, and thus mediate the experience of God to the unwashed masses. The same way, there is a small fraction of high status individuals who act as spoke persons for the whole community of atheist/agnostics. From the people I know directly, both the "christians" and the "atheists" are unconcerned with the big picture of things. They just want to go on with their lives and perhaps go through them in a sane, ethic way. You know, normal, law-abiding people. The Capital-A-Atheists on the other hand, have an agenda beyond the needs and wants of their flock. Like the Clergy of old, they are very concerning with identifying people that dare to think differently (a.k.a. WRONG) and stomp on them, hard. These debunkers and skeptics, provide little value to society, if you take into account the way their predjuces and biases set back scientific discoveries decades or more. This group see themselves as upholders of The-Truth-with-Capital-T, but rarely bother to rise the philosophical question of what can or cannot be known to the human intellect. They see themselves as saviors of humanity and defenders against Superstition-with-Capital-S, regardless that your average individual superstition starts its life as a piece of practical knowledge for which the context and rationale have been lost in time. Back to the point, what this article talks about is what typically happens when small cliques of men get unquestioning power from a mass of followers. An atheist that this has "nothing to do with each other", but so could say a catholic about child molestation from priests and further cover up from the part of higher raking officials. The failure (or unwillingness) the recognize unckecked power structures in both cases only help to obscure the truth and perpetuate the abuses.