Shouldn't Atheists learn to accept religion?

[Esquilax]

It really surprised me to see that atheists on the internet seem to have very little respect for religion. I understand that perspective- there really is no sense of logic to it, it's seems silly, and it can be dangerous. But I also think that in moderate amounts it can be a very good thing. Some people (most people) are comforted by faith in a god, and I really think it's something many people need in their lives to feel whole. I think that's probably why they so often don't understand how atheists can go without a God. Religion isn't required by all people to feel happy, but for some people it definitely is. I don't feel that this is a failure on the part of those people, but apparently many other athiests do.

For someone so interested in respect, you certainly do seem to have a lower estimation of theists than I do. This idea that some religious people "need" their faith, coming from an atheist, is disrespectful and condescending.

Think about what you're saying: "Oh, I understand that it's false, but some weak little people need that emotional crutch to go on. They aren't stable enough to deal without it." You might cloak it in nicer words, but all you're really saying is that some people can't accept reality and require a delusion just to function: so we've got you rabbiting on about respect while characterizing theists as weak-willed and in need of a cosmic authority, and you've got us asserting that theists are just as strong as we are and able to function better without the blinders on, and yet somehow you've come to the conclusion that our position is the disrespectful, deficient one? How do you even do that?

For that matter, how do you establish this idea that some people "need" religion? If the people you're thinking of have never been without it, to the point that they can't even fathom what that would look like, how do you know that religion is a requisite to them at all? You've got no means of knowing how they'd fare without it, so why assume that it would end badly?