I disagree.
We are all subjected to the influences of the believers.
If they weren't so insistent upon forcing everyone to live according to their beliefs, I'd be quite happy to go back to "live and let live".
But they are insistent, and they're getting worse, so I have no choice but to be very vocally anti-theist.

Really? Who exactly were the strident antitheists during the first 1600 - 1700 hundred years of Christianity that motivated true believers to exile, imprison, torture, and kill atheists for no more than not believing?

True believers will always vilify and attact as a defense mechanism simply because they have neither logic nor evidence to rely on.

The fact is that today non-believers are not only safer, but more accepted than ever before because of those willing to speak truth to myth and superstition.

i disagree, considering the religiously skewed state of the world. the aggression already prevalent is wielded by theists, messing with society. i am society & will not keep my mouth shut & play nice in the face of politics, contaminated by idiotic religious fanatism.

Franklin Graham, James Bakker, John Oliver, Ken Copeland, Benny, Hinn, Joyce Meyer, etc, etc, don't seem too worried about their aggressive theism creating a backlash against Christianity. I don't think we should be worried, to that same extent.

I do not view myself as an anti-theist, as I find it difficult to summon animosity toward something I don’t believe exists, much less may be defined. But as a nullifidian, I detest with every fiber of my being organized religion. Churchgoers are not the enemy, rather it is the doctrines, dogmas, values and assertions of their religions that are to be combated, at every turn. It is organized religion that has given us that unhappy mixture of ignorance and insanity called faith, and that seeks to turn credulity into a virtue. It is religion that poisons the mind of children by teaching them about invisible beings who will torture and punish them in fire for disobedience. And it is religion that seeks to influence secular government with its own set of policies and laws.

Belief in a God, in and of itself, isn't a problem. My avatar, along with many of his fellow Revolutionaries, was a Deist who believed that the Almighty created the universe and the laws governing it, and then moved on to other pursuits. No divine interventions, no doctrines, no prophets, nobody to answer prayers, no creeds, no clergy, no so-called holy books, none of any of that. Consider a world without the following terms, made meaningless in the absence of religion: apostasy, apostle, atonement, baptism, blasphemy, canonize, clergy, conversion, crusade, curse, divine, eucharist, exorcism, faith, fundamentalism, gospel, hajj, heathen, heaven, hell, heresy, holy, infidel, jihad, laity, martyrdom, messianism, miracle, occult, prayer, profane, prophecy, prophet, proselytize, purgatory, resurrection, ritual sacrifice, sacred, salvation, scapegoat, scripture, shamanism, shrine, sin and worship. How much better off the world would be had these words and what they stand for never been introduced! Now that’s a world I would happily live in!

Many religions deserve to be called out, & especially many practices & political moves made against the wishes of non-believers. Also, philosophical or political debates in a forum expressly for that purpose are wholly different from knocking on doors or haranguing people in public, so I think that argument is specious!
The idea that these outspoken activists are creating a 'backlash' is ludicrous! We have been marginalized, discriminated against, jailed & killed for our lack of beliefs for centuries, I think the fear & hate directed at us by some theists need no excuse & would be there regardless!
Also, I will not hide in the shadows! If we don't make our views & voices known, expect some version of "The Handmaid's Tale", sooner rather than later! I won't be complicit, or afraid!

I know, all those atheist channels on TV are overwhelming. I'm not sure how the faithful don't curl up in the fetal position each day from the bombardment.

It hasn’t been my experience so far. I’ve only really talked about this with family and online, and the atmosphere has never been aggressive, although you have to be careful that to make sure that people realise that rejection of their god is not a rejection of them. Bringing this viewpoint with compassion can be a challenge.

I am not an anti-theist. God does not exist so why be anti it? I am anti-religion especially creationist who want to impose their beliefs on others primarily by overturning the USA constitutional Separation of church and state. That makes me angry and scares me.

The public atheist that I follow some times do come across as aggressive but when you check into the situation they are facing the reason becomes apparent. In Texas for instance there seems to be an on going battle to keep religion out of the public schools text books.

The ark in Kentucky has cost tax payer money and is trying to get public schools on field trips so they can be indoctrinated.

The story goes on. I believe there are times when we need to be aggressive and times when we should soften our stance.

You seem to be making the fatal mistake that Xian apologists make, in assuming that atheism is a faith and as such is like any other religion. Atheism is not a faith, it is the very opposite, an active doubt! Proselytizing? When an atheist demands of a believer evidence for their beliefs, this is not proselytizing, but an attempt at education! We have a social responsibility to protect the wells.

No! I am not aggressively anything and I don't know anybody that is aggressively anything be it theism or atheism people in my part of the world keep most of their thoughts in this area to themselves you would have to know them quite well for them to share their thoughts about this.

I don't know about that. I mean certainly it can. I mean some of those that believe are anti-theist for many of the same reasons. I know plenty of believers that will not follow any particular denomination because that isn't "their" God.
However I do think it is difficult to be an atheist without being a bit anti-theist.

I don't know I am slightly conflicted by this as i feel all views are valid and that saying some are worse than others is limiting our capacity to make our own judgements - i seriously only care about my own thoughts; and so what if there are backlashes! this is what discussion and self-will is for - we are doing it here, right now & just because i don't agreee with you doesn't mean that I will not defend your right to say it

I agree! Share thoughts, ideas and supporting information. Don’t criticize the person or make the person feel that you believe they are dumb/stupid. People don’t respond well to that type of attack.

I think it can, as many who are newly arrived to their atheism are angry and can be prone to attacks on others’ beliefs. It usually tempers itself with time as one becomes comfortable with the idea. I used to get pissed when I was told to have a blessed day or that someone would be praying for me. As long as their heart is in the right place I accept it graciously. I need all the help I can get, lol.

I completely agree. When one becomes aggressive in their beliefs, or lack thereof, it's time to step back and take a deep breath. I have run into a few rabid ones on here, and they tend to turn me off of this site, but I stick around to see where the tide goes.

It seems silly to divide up into groups based on who believes or doesn’t believe stuff, and attack each other. Nobody knows or understands our underlying reality. All we know is that we are experiencing conscious awareness in a beautiful and magnificent reality that we don’t understand.

Aggression from atheists is understood as proof of being in the right place.

You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. - Matthew 10:22

So it is counter-productive to get testy about it.

Well, I would argue that, two or more competing ideas necessarily will at their extremes collide. I personally have no problems with non-violent extremism. The US are the last standing bastion of western Christianity. I think they feel threatened like never before and defend themself. And it is okay, I don't expect them to be replaced without any resistance. But I am an European, maybe my view of America is somewhat inaccurate.

I am with you in your first paragraph. In England we don't talk about religion so much and don't seem to have so many religious proseletysers. No one has ever in my whole life tried to make me believe in a god and I am 70 years old - I might be telling a lie here as htere was someone preaching at me on a train once and I couldn't get away from him as I was on the wrong train and had to wait till it stopped before I could get my right train back home

If we live quiet lives in the closet and do not rally for separation of church and state, the religionists will expand their power base, spread their beliefs and suppress free thought. Jeff Sessions and Mike Pence are living proof that our government is being highjacked. Of course there will be a backlash against atheism. We are just lucky it's not the Middle Ages and we can speak without fear of extreme torture and death. Resistance must be loud.

I agree that disagreeing with the popular perspective begets a conversation. When it comes to religion, that conversation often gets hostile. I just don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. If I recall from our recent history, ending segregation met the same kind of hostility. My ability to keep my job should not be based on my beliefs about religion, and I'm fine with being vocal about that, among many other things.

The difference is that I'm not hanging out in front of libraries trying to express my views at hapless pedestrians. I'm not filling a building with people that agree with me every weekend and talking about how evil Christians are, how they're taking away our rights and threatening our children. I'm not overly expressing my opinions. I'm just defending my rights.

If that offends people, so be it.