People should be respected, but not all ideas are created equal and not all ideas are worthy of respect.
I think problems arise when people (and this particularly applies to religious believers) are so plugged into their ideas that they see any attacks on those ideas as attacks on themselves.
In that sense, atheism will always be disrespectful, as the mere idea is seen as disrespectful.

Just to echo all the other comments from my fellow oldies ... yeah ... me too. Motivation is a real factor, along with the sense that you're kind of shouting into the wind sometimes.
You're definitely on the right track, Jack, finding a niche activity to focus on like Disco-Tute-Debunking.
I should try to find some kind of focus myself. For me, the gaps between blogs are getting wider!

Nice work, Sean.
Getting accused of being a big Pharma shill definitely falls into the category of "you know you're a prominent skeptic when ... ".
Keep it up and before you know it, they'll be quote-mining you! :^)

Yeah, I've been busy. Or lazy. Probably a bit of both.
Some holiday blogging will be happening soon though, I suspect. :^)

Great idea, Sean. You're right ... we need to have a wider understanding of our history. I look forward to reading your posts on the topic!

Congrats Jack! Great work.
I know how relieved you must be that it's over.
And you've definitely got the right idea ... study what you enjoy studying!

Hi Bryan, and welcome to the internet. Just in case you weren't sure, this is the way things are done here.
If you have responses to the excellent points Sean has raised, you may address them here in the comments, or in your own blog. It's up to you ... and we look forward to your response.

Is it Midnight Oil's 'Diesel and Dust'?

I agree that stuff can happen without evidence. My problem with religion is that it involves very specific beliefs that, to my mind, require at least some evidence to justify.
I think what you're describing here is a good skeptical position though, so again you're being more skeptical than you want to admit.
You're saying that you accept the possibility that you may be wrong, but haven't seen enough evidence to convince you that that's the case.
That's a skeptic.

Definitely the latter. It's all about faith.