Jacques Berlinerblau, an associate professor and program director at Georgetown University, asks if religious people and atheists can ever have a reasoned discourse? On the Georgetown/On Faith blog he queries:

Can an atheist or agnostic commentator discuss any aspect of religion for more than thirty seconds without referring to religious people as imbeciles, extremists, mental deficients, fascists, enemies of the common good, crypto-Nazis, conjure men, irrationalists, pedophiles, bearers of false consciousness, authoritarian despots, and so forth? Is that possible?

That is a question which deserves answering. When we are confronted with atheists we pray for them. Too often when they confront us (usually after a few drinks-see Christopher Hitchens) we are called every name in the book. Berlinbeau called this group of atheists “the soccer hooligans of reasoned public discourse.” -See Christopher Hitchens