Atheist Extremists 

Atheist Extremist... because some people want to see the world learn.

An atheist extremist is an atheist who doesn't believe in any gods - TO THE MAX!!!

The most extreme athiest is the one that forces you to think by yourself instead of believing every word a holy book says. Thinking. What a crime.

An atheist extremist is Marvel Comics' DEMOGORGE...he eats gods!

Nobody ackbar! *boom*

I woke up about 2 years ago. I started meeting for coffee on Saturdays with an Atheist group to make new friends that were also awake. They were nice enough for the most part but the organizer was so angry about religion that he would verbally attack anyone who didn't believe what he believed. He sat for an hour bashing Trump. I found my in and said "So you are voting for Trump?" He shot a look at me like I was a complete idiot then went back to his important conversation. I think of that man as radical because he is consumed with being right and has no sense of humor. I have religious loved ones. They know where I stand but I know when they are ready to wake up I will be here (hopefully) to help them through reality. Till then I am concentrating on being kind and making people smile.

My friend asked me this question xD He thought i had plans to blow up a church xDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD I was dying from laughter lol it was such a joke.

hypothetically, an extremist atheist could exist, a person or group of people who despise and attack religious people/buildings/organizations purely because they thing religion's a bad thing, but I've never actually heard of one. Closest I can think of is someone making a potentially insulting comment about religion, and I've never even heard that done outside of crude humor, or to be thought provoking.

There are atheist extremists, but they are very rare.

I have a definition of "fanatic atheist". A fanatic atheist is one who sees people who believe in god as inferior, and treats them that way. They are the kind of people who would agressively push for things like "eradicating the faith-virus", and they would only join discussions to verbally attack believers, regardless of the argument. Such people have actually succeded in turning what was supposed to be logic and reason into a dogma, which they enforce like zealots, and in that sense I think they have forsaken the true spirit of atheism(no pun intended). I have to say, I had a lot of bad expieriences with people like that, but I've never held it against atheists like you, Hermant, I would love to have a friendly discussion with you. Signed, a spiritual philosopher.

Ima muslim convert, I've learned a lot from your channel, keep it up! !!!

There are non-believers that simply don't believe and keep their non-believing to themselves. Some are closeted, some will only answer if asked and some are open about their non-belief but never try to convince other that they are right. There are other non-believers that will go to any on-line forum or cafeteria conversation to tell believers that they are wrong, with various degrees of argumentation. These people might be annoying when uninvited so annoyed believers might want to call them “militant atheists” or something like that. And finally there are non-believers that are convinced that faith-based mindsets are a detriment to society and use different degrees of engagement to either keep separation of church and state (and the bible outside science classrooms) all the way to propose abolition of religions. I wouldn't call them atheist extremists, but I might understand why some people would put them that label. And, of course, there are those who had replaced religion with another non-theistic dogma such as Comunism and, while they are atheists by definition (lack of believe in gods), they might rank the whole spectrum of engagement (closeted, private, public, militant, extremist) for their ideology. But, indeed, while they are atheist and they are extremists, it does not mean that they are atheist extremists.

Atheism isn't about hating religion. If there are extremist people hating all religion, they are just mad. I mean... what reason, if you don't belief in religion, is there to hate it and act upon it? That doesn't make sense.

What do I see when I see an atheist extremist? Minene from Mirai Nikki, also known as Ninth. Her backstory is she bombs church's since she's against religion. So if we ever have a series of church bombings, I'm immediately gonna think of her and go "Ya know, lets just not stop this in case we get a badass and awesome girl out of these attacks"

Apatheism? I know that some may view this as a form of atheism, but I disagree. I think that apatheism can stand alone although it does carry many of the same traits as atheism. Apatheism basically says that one does/would not care whether or not there was proof of a creator's existence. It's one thing to say that one does not care whether or not a belief should be challenged, but it is another thing to say that one does not believe in ANYTHING (literally). I'm talking about beliefs in family, friends, love, happiness, etc. There was once a point in my life where I did not believe in ANYTHING, and to all those who do not put hope in absolutely anything, you are definitely the extremist above ALL beliefs combined. Standing here now as a 17 year old, I would classify my past (as someone who didn't believe in ANYTHING at all) as "Dead" or "Zombie." ***The only reason I was on this earth was to sleep, eat, and die.*** I am now a nondenominational Christian, former "Zombie," former Apatheist, and former Atheist. To all of you ignorant Christians who bash on other beliefs purely based on what you grew up with, knock it off. Be more accepting and be more open. Do not turn down someone just because they are an Atheist. Do that and you are already denying your own religion. Hear where he or she comes from and then reply with what you know. I will warn you though that if you have not done your own digging into other beliefs, any Atheist will crush you in a debate because they will probably know more about the Bible (and any other holy text) than you do. Also, logic does not simply disappear when you read the Bible. Be considerate of the passing of time. We no longer dress in robes and we no longer live in Jerusalem. I may be a Christian, but I do find truth in science too. (Fun fact: Charles Darwin was actually a Christian his entire life, and he worked as hard as he could to bring acceptance of scientific views into the Roman Catholic church. It took about 350 years for the Catholic church to accept that Earth was not at the center of the universe.) The bulk of Christians wonder why we always get pummeled in the media. "Huh... I wonder why.." Don't listen to pastors like Joel Osteen. All he does is cram false hope down your throat that hardly translates into the Bible. If you go into a debate with his garbage, be prepared for complete domination by any other non-Christian. Question the Bible for yourself. READ IT. (I'm not saying Osteen is the only person that concerns this issue because there are many others, but I know for certain that he impacts millions of viewers in America every Sunday of the year. His congregation alone seats 40,000, not to mention how many watch him on TV.) I know the main concern of this video was "Atheist Extremists," but I had to get this off my chest because some Christians really piss me off. In short though, Apatheism I would say is the most applicable if someone wanted to call an Atheist "extremist," but the dominant "extremist" group is "Zombie" or "Dead." Anyone who wants to burn a church down or mass-murder Muslims, Christians, etc are just crazy people. There's no classification for people like that.

holy crap dude i have only just found your channel and have only watching 3 videos and i already love everything you say it all makes so much sense have been an atheist for at least 5 years now and i have never herd lots of people voice there opinions but none as good and as relatable as yours thanks so much for sharing

An extreme atheist is not someone who just doesn't believe in God but someone who also mocks and derides those who do and blatantly disrespect the whole notion of a belief in a supreme being and submission to him. An example of one is Jaclyn Glenn.

[Extermist: a person who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, esp. one who resorts to or advocates extreme action.] Here's my $0.02: So you have somebody that says they're "a-theist" meaning they don't subscribe to any theism much like (to paraphrase Dawkins) you can be "a-fairy" or "a-unicorn" which just says you won't believe in them until you see proof of them. And then you have the "anti"-theists (a term Hitchens used to describe himself) who actively proclaim how horrible religion is for humanity and bashes the intelligence of anybody that believes in a God. IMO the verbose "anti" theists are the "athiest extremists" even though their "extreme action" is non-violent it still meets the definition of extreme which is the "highest degree" of something and they advocate the abolishment of religion itself.

AAACK! I did that exact thing Thursday night: I sat in a coffee shop with another atheist and talked about religion. Now I'm an atheist extremist too. But wait...... I had decaf. Does it still count?

Whenever I think of a "militant atheist" Its a Atheist who goes to conventions and gives talks and exposes religion on a daily basis. But I've never actually used the term, that's just what I assume people mean when they say it.

Well, Hitchens considered himself an extreme Atheist in one of his debates. I don't remember which one, but he was debating with Richard Dawkins and one of his first opening lines was where he said so. He believed religion to be harmful. So do I, but I don't think of myself as an extremist.

It's when us Atheists run into a religious building screaming "Richard Dawkins is Great!" before blowing it to kingdom come.

My two cents: yes, the literal interpretation doesn't make sense because you can't be extreme at not doing something. What people are usually referring to though is a straw man: somebody who wants to completely ban or punish religious behavior. You see this every time atheists get a public school to stop mandatory prayer: the fundies turn it into "my kid can't pray at school", which is simply a lie. And regarding Stalin or Pol Pot: they might have been atheists, but saying that what they did is atheistic doesn't make sense in any way. There simply is nothing you can reasonably label as "atheist action", because being an atheist does not require you to do anything, all it requires is to not be convinced of god's existence.

In my experience, religious extremists are not believers. It is not faith gone stratospheric. It is the consequence of severe prolonged withdrawal syndrome following a sudden catastrophic and complete LOSS of faith. Not unlike withdrawal from mild prescription drugs like Olanzapine Xanax or Codeine. And like these medications, the syndrome is worse in adolescents that have been under the influence since childhood. The influence of religion on behaviour, is on the whole minute. It is rarely an enormous high. The dosages are only borderline effective, but because of long term use from childhood, they do generate severe dependence. And they do so without the person being aware of ingesting it, of its high and of the dependency they have built up. As long as you keep taking the stuff, your sanity is safe. Until you lose it. From that moment on you are slowly sinking into withdrawal hell, and soon you are prepared to do anything to regain your faith. You might become an atheist, or a hypocrite, but such an acute cut-off can also make you so desperate that you become obsessive-compulsive. Every nuanced clerical advice you take for an order to obey, and instead of pondering passages in your holy book, you take them as direct instruction. That is called magical thinking. You will frantically try to propitiate the God that abandoned your heart, because life without his grace feels like hell. The Prophet forbids monastic assembly (convents, cloisters, etc.), but many catholics who lost their faith became monks, so that they could regain it, through rigourous observation of a bunch of rules. Nevertheless we had millions of catholics turning Jihadi, in the trenches of WW1. They were called fascists. I feel as an atheist, we must be careful as we go about spreading our unbelief. It might work too well.

Once a friend of mine told me the Church of Satan is extremest atheism but it's not. Yes we do not believe in god or the devil but we choose to fallow a set of rules based on human nature and use tools others would find taboo. Oh and the name of our religion puts off a lot of theists and atheists.

If anyone wonders where the comic in the thumbnail it's theoatmeal.com he's a cool guy who mostly just makes fun of everything, not just religion

how about the people who are willing to pick a fight just because a guy wears a cross around his neck, do those guys count?

How would you like your steak sir? "I'd like it EXTRA Medium!"

Some people kind of see me like some evil atheist because I question religion a lot. I also study psychology, philosophy and science. If you get a good understanding for these things, and is able to develop advanced intellectual skills, you really see why religion is a really disgusting and poisonous way of thinking. Many people think religion is okay if it doesn't really bother others but the truth is that we desperately need to get rid of all religion.

I love this guy ,he's always right

hey man, I like your videos, since you are usually quite friendly. But I have to disagree with you on this one. no1. to me religious/atheist extremists are the people who force their belief in to other people's throat and think they are better than the other group of people due to their beliefs. So people like christopher hitchens and ken ham are extremists to me as well as those people that harm people for religious reasons. no2. Mao Ze Dong, communist china's first chairman, he killed more than 50 million people during his life time, he force people to stop any sort of religious practices and only to obey his rules. My mother lived through the great leap period and the culture revolution, she told me that many of her neighbors of her got arrested and never been seen again for religious reasons and for reading books. he also destroyed many monasteries and religious symbol landmarks. He did not want people to believe in god because he want people to believe he is the one with the highest power of all, And he is an atheist. I know I'm gonna get a lot of hate for this, but this is what I think, and it'll be great if you read this Hemant.

It is not a denial of person's individual rights to be denied their choice of venue on private land. In the same way a student can be denied holding an event, they can be denied the venue to preach. They are completely free to preach on public land elsewhere. Being a tax-free educational foundation doesn't deny that organization control of their own property..

The commenter said nothing about it being a student. It's also not denying someones rights to not allow them to preach on their grounds.

I feel like if they hate on religious people for their faith then their being extreme. My ex friend was like that, she hated anyone that was even a bit religious.

I have a friend who I consider a militant atheist. He goes out of his way to bother the religious people. I have witnessed people who did nothing but say "I can't hang out on Sunday, I have church." and he goes off on them like it's his job.

I definitely love "tipping sacred cows". And that phrase has a nice ring to it It does get me into some trouble though.

I am an Atheist, and also a very vocal anti-theist, and having been with many people of the same kind and mindset, i have seen quite a few examples of people who take it too far. These are usually people who have the right idea and have reached a sensible conclusion, but is either not smart enough or too messed up or imbalanced to act out their position or actively support it without abusing their opponents, be it verbally or physically. It takes many forms, and some of them, honestly, i can get behind, such as the church-burnings plaguing much of Scandinavia in the early 90ies. I believe that many different things shape culture. Learning is the most important - but at times something radical can be a good thing. It's about doing something for good reasons. It's really about having the objectivity to realize weather what you are doing will ultimately harm your cause and only serve your own petty hatred or if it will benefit.

Well, I have met some people who get triggered by someone saying something akin to "oh god" as a cussword. Not because its biasphemy or whatever, but simply because they hate the very mention of god.

Militant atheist doesn't sound so bad to me. A militant atheist would be a person who tries to convince others that there's no god, I think. Pretty much like Mormons knocking on your door, telling you their ideas. It might be annoying on both sides, but ultimately not a bad thing. Extremism does have a bad connotation.

1:27 Bringing up that argument is like saying: Do you like dogs? Hitler LOVED dogs. That means you're like Hitler.

I grew up in Communist Czechoslovakia, and I personally knew someone who was brutally murdered for his religion. He was an underground Catholic bishop. I used to visit in his apartment almost every day. (I was an underground priest, myself, though I no longer believe.) I was probably quite lucky that I fled from the country when I did because he was murdered only about a month after I fled, so if they were watching him, they had to know about me, too. And they actually murdered him in his apartment, the same apartment I used to visit regularly. That was back in 1979. Still gives me goosebumps to think of it, as it makes me realize just how lucky I was that I fled when I did. He was a regular guy, did not break any laws (other than being a priest and a bishop without asking permission from the Communist government). He was not the only one they murdered, by the way, he just happened to be one I knew personally. So, while I agree with you that most atheists are not extreme (you certainly aren’t), especially not in the West, there really is such a thing as an extreme atheist.

I hear "angry atheist" all the time actually. And I just realized that it is used by religious people in reference to anyone who actually speaks up about their lack of belief! I am mostly always extremely respectful because I don't want to further the atheist stereotype and yet as soon as I do anything but stay silent I am labeled as an "angry atheist". Wow... I will never let someone call me an angry atheist again or refer to myself as such.

It doesn't mean there aren't some antitheist extremists. I was simply saying that antitheist extremists make a lot more sense than atheist extremists.

I enjoy the company of athiests they're logical and enjoyable to have convrsations with.

lol imagine a guy with a bomb around his chest jelling science before blowing himself up

They did not just repress for political reasons. They also explicitly and actively discourage religious expression. Atheism was sometimes required for having access to a college education (Eastern Germany, Poland, ...).

Search for 'League of Militant Atheists'. The wikipedia article has the following quote: 'The League of Militant Atheists aided the Soviet government in killing clergy and committed believers.' It seems ten seconds of Googling really can make a difference.

The only time I've ever used the term "Atheist Extremist" or something similar to such was referencing someone i encountered a few years ago after moving to South Carolina. I met this person online who, at first, I thought was a cool person to be around. However, after revealing that i was, in fact, a christian, they changed. They harassed me every chance they could get and instead of explaining why they would just say "The idea of God is stupid and you are less intelligent for believing in God" or something to that effect. I tried reasoning with them to try to find a middle ground but they wanted nothing more than to somehow prove to me that i was utterly useless and worthless for having my beliefs in God. What i'm ultimately trying to get to is that the term "Extremist" may have not been the best term to use when referencing this individual but I often use them as an example that bad people and bullies exist in all walks of life whether it be in religious institutions or among atheists. It wasn't like they were trying to reference actual loopholes in scripture or scientific principles that most of my other atheist friends have used to dictate their lack of a belief in God, rather, they held fast in all of their remarks that i was intellectually inferior due to my beliefs.

"Being a tax-free educational foundation doesn't deny that organization control of their own property.." Tell that to Bob Jones University.

Yesterday a militant atheist stood next to me on the elevator and didn't believe in god the whole time. It was horrible.

Remember Poe's law. Since fundies have said equivalent things then saying it without some other communication indicating it is a joke is indistinguishable from a fundie saying it. While I assumed it was a joke it also might have not been.

Technically, you can't really do something extreme because of non-belief. You never hear of people doing things because they don't believe in unicorns, don't believe in flying spaghetti monsters, or even because they don't collect stamps. People do crazy things exactly because they believe in something that tells them to do something crazy.

For most atheists, I think that religion is not much more than an inconvenience in their lives. Sure, we'll complain about it and debate and some will even write books about it, but we don't generally care enough about the subject to burn a building or kill someone in the name of atheism- we just want religious people to practice their own religion in a way that doesn't offend, harm or inconvenience other people. It should also be noted that atheists are usually fairly mild-mannered and rational thinkers, which means that they're not really capable of the type of violence religious extremists are.

I don't think there can be an Extremist Atheist, but I think there can be Militant Atheists, one's who keep talking about their idea of non-belief but in more of an aggressive manor, but not necessarily causing mental or physical harm to anyone.

I think we all are extreme. We boldly think and speak where no man has thought before!

Arming the Militant Atheist: Helmet of Reason, Breastplate of Darwin (fashioned from a hardbound copy of On The Origin of the Species), Sword of Logic, Spear of Ridicule, Crossbow of Soundness, Quiver of Refutations, Occam's Razor & Jackboots of Rudeness.

Maybe when they say "atheist extremist" they meant "antitheist" which is basically an active opposition to religion or religious beliefs. This could be your actual fantasy-fueled church bomber

You don't want to be an extremist atheist, you want to be an EXTREME atheist!!! (Guitar riff)

i'm torn between believing the terms "extreme" and "militant" atheist already have definitions similar to "douchebag atheist" and the believing people shouldn't use the same terms as used for religious terrorists and such

Just because someone is both an atheist and extremist about something, doesn't mean he or she is an atheist extremist. Not saying they don't exist, though.

The only thing I can think of is maybe religious people finding atheism extreme because not having a religion is a somewhat new thing in our society.

That's a good point, but I think the working assumption for *now* is that most atheists arrive at it from a skeptical perspective, rather than from being indoctrinated as a child or coming from an environment of hardship. Atheism and nonreligiosity tend to be luxuries of living in well-off countries with strong education systems, where spirituality is not needed as a crutch for surviving life or to explain the world around us. These special circumstances prevent atheists from become extremists.

The idea of an 'extremist' atheist is still applicable. For example, an 'extreme' form of atheism would be where the atheist, for example Richard Dawkins, actively tries to break down religion - takes an actively negative and destructive stance towards it. This is probably not the position of most atheists who are probably neutral and content in their beliefs. A normal atheist would keep to himself, an extreme atheist would try and break the faiths of others.

I think that when people use the term "militant atheists," they are referring to atheists who actively seek out theists to emphatically argue that God does not exist, sometimes verging on arrogance or snobbery. I am an atheist, but I only argue if a person is open to argument. And when I do argue, I try to maintain a neutral tone while withholding statements such as "You're wrong!" I think a lot of militant atheists come from religious backgrounds know what religious oppression feels like.

Having grown up in a heavily Christian area, I've heard the term militant atheist before, usually in connection with an atheist who will argue religion just to argue, or just to make people uncomfortable. I didn't consider them militant, I considered them assholes, but in my school they were called "militant".

Love the analogy. Militant antisexuals might go around and murder people who enjoy sex too much. Strong non-militant antisexuals might seek the banning of sexual enjoyment, but a milder antisexuals may just say that enjoying sex too much should be frowned upon in society.

Most private universities are tax exempt entities with favorable IRS standing. The Bob Jones University case established that a university can lose that favorable IRS standing by denying students individual rights.

I've seen Hitchens described as militant... Under a video where the religious person he's debating is full on yelling at him and he just stays calm...

In response to Alan Annenkov: For very rational and political reasons. The Russian orthodoxy supported the Czar and was a major political powerhouse.

Denying someone a service on the grounds or race or creed is not equivalent to denying someone free access to do whatever they want on the property of your organization. Because Churches are tax exempt they have no right to escort people off their grounds? Do Universities have no right to remove squatting homeless? You don't remove all your property rights when you gain a tax exemption. The point of the lawsuit against Bob Jones was because they discriminated in servicing Americans equally.

I have trouble reconciling "Discrimination of services on the grounds of ... creed is indeed in the court of things which should not be given charity status" with "escorting ... preachers off schools grounds is purely within their constitutional discretion". Again, we aren't talking about a constitutional claim, but instead a tax exemption. I don't see how you can draw the distinction you are. If you violate rights, you can lose preferred tax status.

Don't think I became an atheist overnight--it's more like I spent 40 years of so as a non-theist -- kinda just disinterested in religion -- only going to Mass at Xmas & Easter for the sheer beauty of the music & surroundings. My mom used to call me a blue-domer, due to my love for walking in the woods. Now I consider myself an atheist though.

Hi Hemant. I don't use 'atheist extremist' at all (it's misleading), but I have used 'militant atheist' before. I use it when I refer to someone who is rather aggressive about being an atheist. That is of course not even close to extremism, hence I avoid that word. But I think people can be militant about their opinions (any opinion) and push them onto others, or can argue without taking into account others' feelings, which is rather disrespectful. I don't want to leave a multi-paragraph comment, I think you can get my point. What do you think?

A militant atheist is just one that doesn’t respect others beliefs and will openly call you an idiot. They don’t so much offend me but it makes any discussion very unpleasant and they paint themselves in a very unpleasant light. It’s usually an over abundance of sarcasm and I would suggest anyone who acts in that way during a discussion should try chilling out. If you believe us Christians are acting in a way that is judgmental and unreasonable then the answer isn’t meeting us with that same unreasonable attitude. No one wants to listen to someone talking down to them. Just avoid getting frustrated and don’t seek out people to frustrate.

There are such things as militant/extremist atheist because when i first was turned to atheism i was a douche bag to theists. Actually for a long time after i switched my religious views *2-3 years* i acted out towards theists this way. Sadly i didn't have the intellect i do now or the base of knowledge or the internet to fall back on. We had internet it just was dial up and unreliable kinda the Internets infancy right! Most of my anger and frustration was because I didn't have anything to fall back on as a substitute of religion and it left a big whole in my life. So everyone got it from me with no real reasoning behind it. Oh yeah i was militant. So yes it does exist there are people out there like that and sadly its not exception. Its not the same though because most of the time its a fervent anger and the lack of willingness to understand something that has been observed and proven in controlled tests. So thats my take on it. They exist because i was one of them at one point ,but i gradually learned that most creationist/theists are just gullible fools like i was once,and i needed to show them proof instead of just getting angry at them. Thanks for the video.

Who said extremism has to equal violence? Extreme-of a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average. To be either an extreme Christian or an extreme atheist, you don't necessarily have to be associated with violence.

The point was that you focused only on Constitutionality, when the real battleground in the private University situation will rely primarily on potential loss of tax exempt status if the University becomes discriminatory.

To the maker of this video: back when Napoleon rose to power, the cathedral of Notre Dame was renamed the Cathedral of Reason or something like that.

People do things accordingly to their beliefs, no matter if that belief is good or bad. On the other hand, it is impossible to do something about what you don´t believe in or don't have in mind. The decisions you make, on any subject, are, and can only be derived from what you have in mind or believe in, not in what you don`t . That is the basis of the logical error on this subject.

Herman,why are you always looking beside the camera?You never facing the camera,or are you talking to someone at the left of the camera?(from our point of view!)

To me a Militant Atheist is someone who will stand up against religious influence. For example, they might go to their child's school to make sure the child don't feel pressured into reciting the pledge whereas a Moderate Atheist would simply say 'it's not hurting anything' and stay home. Yes, it's a very weak extreme, but it's better than bombing churches, which would never help our cause.

I myself am not religious myself (at least not anymore.) Up till very recently, actually, I was a Christian. I consider myself agnostic now. However, I still do feel bad for people who are put down for their faith. Also, there is a major difference between "fierce criticism" of a religion or faith, and outright just insulting the person for holding such a belief. Those people add nothing to a debate and really only emotionally degrade others. And vice-versa with rude religious people.

The authentic atheist can't care less about what religious people think or do inside a church.

Thank you! There is a complete double standard. A "militant Christian" would be someone who bombs clinics. A "militant atheist" is someone who presents an anti-religious opinion.

Well they do say the pen is mightier than the sword!

Richard Dawkins uses the term in his TED talk called militant atheism. Its worth watching

One month later, dusty makes a video about a militant atheist who beat a pastor. Can't be right all the time.

I loved the, militant athiest, "we want to force the truth to be taught!" Mine is, well, not extremist But a militant could be, " yep, I'm in the military, I happen to be athiest, sooo, 'militant athiest?' "And, no, I'm not in the military! Love and Peace

I am a atheist activist, and i am against religion, but at the same time i would never be violent about it.. the only exception to that is if i went to a country, where people tried to kill me for being atheist, i would defend myself..

I think crazy atheist is more accurate than extremist atheist. When I think about atheist "extreme" I think of people who get upset and edgy every time religion occur, like christmas, saying "oh my god" or just picking on religious people simply because they found out that they are religious. I don't think they would go as far to kill them, this would be a serious mental case.

I've called myself a militant atheist a couple of times (I think I might have heard a friend call me that first, then I kinda adopted the label myself)... For me it always meant an atheist who is strongly vocal against religion, as opposed to atheist who "don't care".

Well, there was some atheist teen who suicide bombed a church in Sicily, Italy, but it might have been something to do with bullying. The Polizia are still investigating.

i think the amazing atheist is as close as you can get to an atheist extreamist

My example of a militant atheist is my grandmother. When the religious do-gooders would come knocking on our door she'd point at them and yell at them to "get the fuck off our property!!!" I refer to her as a militant atheist because she was extremely hostile to religion and religionists. That attitude is probably what people refer to when they say "militant atheist." She was born in 1926 and had an epiphany when she was teaching Sunday school at age 15 and realized, in the middle of a sentence about the miracle of Jesus, that what she was teaching to the young kids was bs. At was an instantaneous lightbulb moment. That was the moment she became an atheist and she never did go back to church. Back in her day you were deeply distrusted if you were an atheist so I totally understand her hostility to religion; it was a defense mechanism.

I'm an atheist to the bone-marrow, and I am _in private_ hostile to religion, and I debate a lot. _"Militant atheist"_ which I apparently am is just a stupid word for _"Active Atheist"_ - someone who's armed with words; facts, logic, common sense, _knowledge of what the bible says and can refrase it_, combined with all the hostility creationists feels when they're _lies_ are exposed in the public forum. (which is just too easy btw). _The word is more powerful than any weapon._ But does that make me militant? Probably only to the people who can't defend themself with other things than ignorance and lies. - or by feeling it necessary to scream as loud as they can to make him or her shut up.

Extremists come in all forms. People with religion and those who do not have a religion.

I suppose it's nice to know that the most extreme atheists simply aren't extreme

If anything I believe people thing it is when an Atheist is always debating religion, putting it down and calling the BS on it to religious people, etc.

Reza Aslan used the term Fundamentalist Atheist recently to describe Sam Harris in an interview with Cenk Uygur and on CNN I think after the Bill Maher Ben Affleck blow-out. It would be really nice if Reza Aslan could leave a comment; I am very curious about this confusing term "Fundamentalist Atheist".

I'm an atheist, I don't like religions and I'm not an extreme atheist; I did, however, get kicked out of an atheist discussion group by an extreme atheist. She was acting just as bad as some religious people. Needless to say, some atheists, I think, forget why they are atheists in the first place