So, although religious believers have persecuted and murdered atheists, and anyone else who disagreed with them; while religion has happily promoted genocide, slavery, the oppression of women and other races, sexual repression and the use of force to ensure conformity (this being only what the Bible flat-out recommends); and while religious authorities have fought tooth and nail the liberalization of our ethics and politics, to say nothing of steadfastly opposing progress in scientific knowledge and technical ability, what is really counter-productive is that atheists have the temerity to think their tendency to base belief in reason means they might have something to say about the truth of matters, and are downright arrogant in expecting those who disagree with their conclusions to do so on reasoned grounds

What a great quote, and encapsulates religions hostility to opposition in one paragraph. The fact that we are fighting tooth and claw with the outright lies, pseudo-science and propaganda of ID in the 21st Century is testament to the indomitable opposition of religion to knowledge. The history of science is strewn by incessant bitter dog-fights with the enemies of reason. How much good science has been wasted, when scientists from Galileo onwards have spent much of their time having to argue with cretinous ignorant theists, desperate not to lose authority.

All the same, I can only wonder what use compromise with religion could be to atheists, apart from deflecting a small amount of the hostility directed their way

What compromise can we have with religion? I wouldn't even be on this board at all if religion kept their delusions to themselves, yet instead try to impose their arrogant anachronistic nonsense on the rest of us. Look at the hissy-fit they have when you even put an advert on a bus suggesting that their deity is a figment of their imaginations.