Atheists

It is often said the idea of original sin, of christian morality, of religious morality, was and is a straight jacket of domination of man by man. This hierachy, this control, is not that of faith, but of structures imposed by elites to control the masses. In this way the religious creeds of man are no different to consumerism or Marxism-Leninism. The origins of Christianity are obscured in the vast slave owning imperium of the Roman Empire. The rise of Islam was subsumed in the Caliphate.

The outright denunciation and rejection of religion (here is wikipedia's list of atheist philosophers, http://tinyurl.com/yko85ke) has a broad base which ranges from scientists like Richard Dawkins to anarchists like Murray Bookchin. All united in their opposition to the validity of religion, opposition based on the false and corrupted versions of religion, dominated by states and elite control. Richard Dawkins for example sees religion as "both a source of conflict and a justification for belief without evidence." The possibility of extremism is a feature of secular societies, and the largest mass murderers in history, Stalin and Mao were committed atheists.
That Christians should never commit acts of vengeance or violence, that they should forgive. Quakers have non-hierachial structures, and worship in self-reflexive silence but religion is wrong. That Hari-Krishna's give food to the hungry, that nuns nurse the sick seems to be irrelevant to the atheists.

The intolerance required to take so narrow minded a view is a reflection of the view of religion these atheists have, and in doing so they undermine the validity of there opinions. For there is validity. Religious Fundamentalism is surely a cause of human misery and suffering. Given the humanitarian message of most religion, to plant suicide bombs, or hang homosexuals corruption of the principles the fundamentalists claim to maintain. In many cases religious fundamentalism is a cover for social conservatism and patriachy.