I ran across your html page in which you note the presence of much anger on alt.atheism. I agree with your notion that one would expect the atheism newsgroups to be the rationalization capitals of the world. The reason why this statement is true follows:

There are a lot of attention starved theists who post (and crosspost) things in the newsgroup that doesn't belong there. Their ignorance is met with much adversity. "Flames" are an everyday part of almost all newsgroups. If you post something offensive in a newsgroup you should expect a deluge of email.

The anger which you note is justified. I can find no way to label it "irrational". You would undoubtedly see the EXACT same results if an atheist posts in a christian newsgroup telling everyone that they are wrong and should stop believing in god because of some immenent doom which awaits them. One would expect this type of "bickering" to be present. I would like to point out, however, that the atheist newsgroups are the "seed-beds of rationality". I would not go as far to say that christian newsgroups are the "seed-beds" of irrationality. I wouldn't allow myself to proclaim such a generalized statement to be true.

I would like to also point out that this anger is mostly instigated by theists' crossposts. I find it analogous to someone from alt.animals.cats posting an article on alt.animals.dogs informing dog owners that they are going to hell unless they get rid of their dogs and buy cats.

Rationalists abhor irrationality. They get angry when someone attacks their character unjustifiably.

I hope that this helps you to understand the anger.

face411