Atheist extremism is bad... mkay?

[Paul the Human]

So I call myself an atheist out of honesty because I really am one. I see it as merely unfortunate that atheism is quite widely misunderstood. I see it as merely unfortunate because no misunderstandings of atheism actually represent me or what atheism actually is.

Exactly. But while it doesn't actually represent you or atheism's real meaning, it does do harm to the reputation of atheists in general. It causes us to be misperceived and lessens the chances that we will actually be understood and accepted by the 'believers'.