religious types with which I am all too familiar. Atheism is not a belief system. It is merely the absence of a belief in a deity. By definition it is NOT a system of beliefs. Unless someone is a strong atheist (which as far as I know, neither Hitchens nor Dawkins are) there is no positive statement or "article of faith" being made. People (usually on the theist side of the discussion) fail to distinguish between the statements "I do not believe in a God" "There is probably no God" and "I disbelieve in the existence of a God". Indeed the second of those three statements actually fits more semantically agreeably with the first than the third. Complaining about presentation of arguments is what is commonly known as either concern or tone trolling. The very point the atheist makes is that the way arguments are presented have no bearing on their validity. Further atheists don't "shove their 'beliefs' down the throats of others". They don't ask for special privileges. They don't ask for "atheist" schools. They don't ask for atheist representatives in the House of Lords. They don't ask for special recognition through the tax system to have charitable status of "atheist" bodies fast-tracked. They don't ask for religious symbols to be banned. They don't ask for churches to be banned. They don't ask for the abolition of religion. All they seek is a level playing field for ideas instead of this illogical and institutional special treatment that is given