There are many people who find it difficult to wrap their heads around the hatred that displayed toward theists by atheists such as Christopher Hitchens, P.Z. Meyers, and Richard Dawkins. Many write it off as simply hatred against those in disagreement, others claim the hatred is simply doubt about atheism being manifested as anger toward Theism. While there is a bit of truth in these explanations, they do not explain the anger for one basic reason. They dramatically under estimates the effects of believing something is really true, especially when that something concerns the existence of God and moral standards.

Most, if not all, atheists have bought into the theory of evolution, which makes very clear statements about good and evil, the nature of man, and what the world should be like, or what utopia should look light. In general, good is strong, pleasant, and natural, evil is weakness, pain, and self denial. Man is only one step on the evolutionary ladder and is not intrinsically more valluable than any other organism, and the world only progresses as fast as evolution. These statemnts are in direct contradiction to the tenents held by many theistic belief systems: God determines right and wrong (our enjoyment has little or nothing to do with it in the short run), man is unique and above all animals, and history will end with mankind going to heaven and hell.

Now, if everyone were to stay at home and hold these beliefs to themselves, there would not be as many arguments. The problems arise when we try to make laws, run nations, and set policies. If you oppose abbortion, stem cell research, or euthanasia, then you are obstructing the atheistic march to utopia by slowing evolutionary development in the human race. If yuo oppose gay marriage, incest, bestiality, or polygamy, then you are opposing good (pleasure, that which is 'natural') and advancing evil (denial of one's urges). When you support prayer in school, the mention of God in the pledge of allegiance, or the mention of Intelligent Design in schools, you are filling children's heads with nonsense from humanities dark and barbaric past, ideas scientific atheism hates as much as most people hate Fascism (which is, by the way, good atheism).

Thus, Atheists have no problem with theists who leave their beliefs at home, but their wrath is hurled up at those theists who point out the harm in atheistic ideals and attempt to prevent them from implementation. Another way of looking at it is a comparison of war. In wars such as the American Civil War, the Napoleonic Wars, there was a measure of respect between soldiers. Religious war is different, combatants in a religious war are fighting because the other side is evil. Thus, there is no respect between sides. Theism vs. Atheism is by definition a religious war. Atheists see Theists as full of ideas harmful to the human race, and thus see them as unworthy of common rules of decency and argumentative etiquette.

A brief disclaimer: Much of the above is generalization and I realize that. If I wanted to speak specifically to every case I would have to write a book. Someday I might, but please realize that there are exceptions to just about everything I said, but the general rules still holds.