for people like me who grew up in a relatively coercive religious environment, watching a smart atheist tear strips out of a smart theist was refreshing and entertaining. but i also recognize that those same atheists have done real damage to the culture, or at least enabled those who relish damaging it, simply by voicing those criticisms. many of the people i now consider 'fellow travelers' are religious, which both surprises and amuses me. but the most annoying part of that observation is that these same religious people act as if those criticisms were never leveled at all. they seem to think the religious side came out of that period without a scratch. which is obviously bullshit simply because of the number of christians who complain today about the damage those atheists did in the first place. your emperor is still naked, and pretending the kid didn't point that out doesn't clothe him. if you expect to be taken seriously, we're going to need something like acknowledgement that weaknesses in these religious premises were found, and that there are at least efforts being made to resolve them. especially if christians feel we should be returning to faith as the model for governing society.
Canada