What happens when two atheists and two agnostics meet for lunch? When the folk in question are, respectively, John Gray, Alain de Botton, Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Bryan Appleyard, the answer is a very interesting conversation.
Writing for the New Statesman, Bryan Appleyard provides a flavour:
Certainly, it seems that Alain de Botton's recent book Religion for Atheists earned him a deal of abuse:
But just how new is this culture of abuse? Though latterly assisted by the internet, it is surely part of human nature, to be found among theists and atheists alike – and even between the followers of different strands of conservative thought.
In the end, bigotry doesn't require an 'ism' of any sort, just a basic lack of kindness and courtesy.