How to deal with a militant atheist?

[Will]

Willravel,

In what ways have you dealt with militant atheists in the past?  And how have you addressed the issue?  Also, what kind of response did you receive from the militant atheists themselves?

At the end of the day, it's a matter of explaining that there are a lot more of them than there are us, so going balls to the wall all the time is a really bad idea from a strategic standpoint. Religious people create more atheists than other atheists (I liken this to the Empire in Star Wars often).

I often joke "there but for the grace of god go I" when referring to militants. There was a time in my transition that I could have been characterized as a silent militant.

[Faithless]

I am a pretty militant atheist myself, but even so, I know how to conduct myself around other people.  Philosophy or degree of philosophy doesn't really matter when interacting with a group of people.  What matters is behaving oneself in the group.  Calling people names or being generally disruptive is offensive in any setting.

I think this person needs to be told they're acting inappropriately soon, or your little group is going to disappear.  If you're uncomfortable confronting or speaking to him (that's okay, most of us will go pretty far to avoid confrontations), how about at the next meeting handing out a general list of rules for the group?  This can include how to pass out information, how to engage politely in debate, and all sorts of things.  Then if s/he still doesn't get it, you can do the confrontation thing.  Then maybe you can get those who left to come back and give it a second chance.

[Kyuuketsuki]

Um ... I would describe myself as a militant atheist!

Kyu

[BadPoison]

I was going to ask CSPanther how/if this was resolved - but seeing that he hasn't been logged in since May I guess it would be futile.

[SomewhereInND]

Ask them "whats the difference between a miltiant athiest, and a self righteous god seeker?"