You'd think a thread about the death of Kim Jong-Il, by any reasonable definition himself a militant atheist, wouldn't be the wisest time and place for heavy handed rhetoric reminding everyone that militant atheism tends to often involve active efforts to attack other people's personal beliefs. Considering the almost jaw-dropping correlation of publicly atheist leadership to brutal and generally inefficient, irrational, and paranoid rule the last thing a rational person would want to do is go around drawing parallels between themselves and the deranged, brutal pygmy madman. But we still have around half a dozen posters in the thread who seem more interested in discussing the perceived downsides of non-atheism then the joyous death of the homicidal dictator. You'd think common sense would dictate a conversion method that relied on calm, polite, and generally respectful language as opposed to language that implied the only reason they don't do conversions by the sword is they don't have enough of them, particularly in a thread talking about a guy who did do just that. You'd also think they'd be a bit leery of basing so much of their arguments on psychology, not exactly viewed as the hardest and most reliable of sciences, particularly mere months after Stapel's fraud was uncovered.

I actually do happen to agree - in part or principle anyway - with a good portions of the arguments raised in this thread. I'm just a bit shocked that so very few militant atheists seem interested in pursuing their own agenda in what one would consider the most effective and thus rational way. I have difficulty thinking of any group that sucks that bad at maintaining a good public image, and seems so willfully blind to how many potential converts they probably lose just by maintaining a paradox of demanding rational thought on everything while acting in an apparently irrational fashion in their every memorable public interaction. Particularly considering the well-known concept of one bad incident needing a dozen good ones to override it. It's hard to get behind a cause as rational and civilized when most of its torchbearer's seem intent not just on setting other people's houses on fire but soaking themselves in kerosene while their at it. "Why don't you trust and respect me you irrational, delusional idiots!" has just never struck me as rational debate tactic.