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This same internal conflict arises whenever Bill Maher is the guest on a variety talkshow, like The View, and he repeats his own mantra against religion.
The vainglorious father analogy is a good one; it is too easy and too obvious to attack religious fundamentalism, or even a person's personal right to believe.
I can't think of a better way these "Preaching Atheists" could concede some of the matter without blankly admitting it is a concession, but they must understand the need that human beings have to insulate themselves against death and evil. I am an agnostic with atheist leanings but I understand that on some level, optimally it would be individual, people must believe. Our world is too bare of beauty for most to live without belief.
These preaching atheists should not call for an end to all 'spirituality' but instead specifically lambast the organizations (and organizational aspects) of religion while maintaining the idea that it can be healthy and helpful to practice spirituality.
I've come to terms (or am coming, rather) with a cold, indifferent universe that ends the day I die. Do I have the right to fault people who can't?
[post scriptum question: If 91% of the USA believes in god why do these atheist books keep getting published and publicized?]
