Can I age like Stacey Dash? Seriously.

I don't doubt that you've had shitty experiences with Christians. Is it that hard for you to believe that I've had shitty experiences with athiests.

If the subject of religion comes up, it's one thing for an athiest to say, "nah, not my thing", and make a few points about why they feel that way. It's another thing entirely to jump to belittling people and acting smug and intolerable. You may think these people are rare, but I can tell you from my experience that…

To quote the great Chris Hardwick: "Nerds make the shiny things that distract the mouth breathers."

Well, we all have those (cough*WestboroBaptist*cough).

I've seen bits and pieces of this around, but have mostly avoided anything to do with Dawkins because I find him so offensive (not the science stuff, but anything to do with religion). It's incredibly frustrating that even a movement that supposed to be about forward thinking and progression is bogged down with sexism…

Ah, okay. I was vaguely aware of some of that, but haven't paid much attention because the guy bugs me so much. Thanks for explaining this without bashing me.

You're right, there are very annoying people on both sides. All the more reason to avoid those people if they bug you.

When you're degree is rendered useless by a shit economy, then yeah, some consideration might be warranted.

Yep, I'm in the exact same place. I would love to pay a little more, for a lot of reasons, but I can't.

I obviously can't speak for most folks, but I don't think the trouble is that they think athiests are bad people. Rather it has more to do with having someone constantly shitting on your beliefs whenever the subject comes up, and the concern that a staunch athiest would be opposed to raising children as Christian.

...being rational, level-headed and invariably correct on matters of spiritual importance?

I was under the impression that Dawkins was beloved in athiest spheres.

I don't know many athiests that don't celebrate Christmas.

This is a very narrow view of why people are religious/faithful.

Honestly, I'm down for different religious views, but I once stopped dating a guy when I found out he was conservative. I can't get behind someone who would vote against my best interests in elections.

Wow. Clearly I'm in the wrong field.

I live in a city with multiple universities and colleges, and only one of them is considered a 'party school', with well regarded football and hockey programs. Not so coincidentally, that school is also the one that has been in the news in recent years for their students doing a fucking rape chant during frosh week.

Same here. My university was about 74% women, and you rarely, if ever, saw this kind of fuckery taking place. I thank my lucky stars every time a new campus rape story arises that I went to a school that had no time for that shit. If things happened, they were dealt with swiftly and with the utmost respect and…

For the most part I consider 'like' or 'you know' or 'I mean' vocal fillers, like ums and uhs, albeit slightly less jarring. The difference is that these fillers are associated with women, and that often leads to an assumption of lacking knowledge or understanding. It's misogynistic in nature, but ultimately, just…