Should atheists be tolerant of religion? Yes. Do atheists need to realize that there is some good in religion, and that it's not all bad? Yes. Do atheists need to turn atheism into a religion and build a temple/church? Absolutely not. This article also pointed out something that needs to be addressed, and that's fundamentalism within atheism. It's not as prominent as in, say, the Abrahamic religions, but it is there.
Becoming even more confused, Dawkins exclaimed in his response: "Oh, God!"
“Immediately he was out of control, he said, 'Oh, God!'" Warsi recalls, "so even the most self-confessed secular fundamentalist at this moment of need needed to turn to the Almighty. It kind of defeats his own argument that only people who go to church have a faith."
I did find this part, Dawkins expressing frustration, by using a common phrase "oh god", funny, not because he said god, but because someone interpreted that as saying Dawkins was turning to god. That's hilarious.
De Botton finds Dawkins a psychologically troubling figure.
“He has taken a very strange position. He's unusual, in that he came from an elite British Anglican family with all its privileges and then he had this extraordinary career, and now he stands at the head of what can really be called a cult . . . I think what happened was that he has been frightened by the militancy of religious people he has met on his travels and it has driven him to the other side.
This just makes me mad. Too many theists assert that atheists are atheists, not because that's where the evidence leads, but because of some psychological trauma. Theists simply cannot cope with the fact that people can logically and rationally choose to reject the idea of god.
Ultimately, I found the article to be a theist's tripe on atheism in general. It points out a few things, but ultimately it fails by basically trying to classify atheism as a mental disorder. Theists will pick apart every tiny detail they can, from the lives of atheists, talks and lectures of scientists, everywhere, to attempt to put the nail in the coffin of atheism. Their psyches are shattered to the point where it's impossible for them to understand that it is not only reasonable, but allowable, to reject their religion. I've heard it said, and it's true, that faith is only an opinion, and it's no better or more valuable than the opinion of an atheist.
In the end, there will always be religion, and there will always be atheism. The point, to me, is not the destruction of one in favor of the other, but mutual understanding of each other, and each group recognizing the rights of the other to exist and have, and share, their views.
