ABSTRACT
True believers condemn unbelievers as apostates, infidels, Iscariots, double-tongued satanists, or, even worse, secular humanists. They accuse them of conspiring to destroy religion, to tear down society, to do away with the family, and to debauch the young. Ranged against the true believer are the militant atheists, who adamantly reject the faith as false, stupid, and reactionary. They consider all religious believers to be gullible fools and claim that they are given to accepting gross exaggerations and untenable premises. Historically, compared with believers, militant atheists have been comparatively few and powerless, and it is the naysayers who most often have been persecuted for their want of belief. Militant believers and dogmatic atheists are bedfellows in their psychological attitudes. Believers and unbelievers of the third kind share a common goal, and that is to preserve freedom of inquiry into religion or ideology against those who may seek to deny it.
