But Dawkins is right about "to berate believers as nothing but tiresome fools". The part of their minds that is that is idiotic. When that idiotic part of their minds takes over the rest of their bodies, they become idiots themselves. It's pretty obvious and logical.
We know them, and they can be sweet and competent and all. I can think of my family and co-workers. But when they get religious they suddenly become barking mad. Sorry to say it. These people, my loved ones and my friends are just barking mad, when in religion mode. And it gets tiresome. There you are: tiresome fools!
I don't think it matters whether they are in fact idiotic, or tiresome, unless all you're interested in doing is whining impotently. If the goal of berating them is to vent your personal frustration, then great. Mission accomplished. My disagreement is only with people who claim that their goal is to actually change people's minds, or change society.
But someone's got to say it, right?
Nobody really has to do anything. It's all just a matter of which goals you're trying to achieve.
If nobody talks about the elephant in the room no one will know or will think it's just a quirk of theirs that they sense it.
Okay, so here you're identifying a goal(that is different from the one I'm focusing on)-- you want to identify like-minded people, and for them to know they're not alone. That's perfectly fine, and in that case, I agree that it makes sense for you to be expressing your contempt for the religious, in as dickish a manner as you see fit, since the only way for people who share your frame of mind to identify you as one of theirs is for you to express yourself sincerely.
My disagreement is only with people who claim that their goal is to actually change people's minds, or change society. The strategy that you adopt in order to tell closet atheists that they're not alone isn't the same as the strategy you adopt in order to ease people out of belief, or out of belief in belief.