Anti-atheist sentiment on the Left?!

Melinda Barton wrote an absolutely atrocious piece on - of all places - Raw Story. I thought for a moment I was on the WingNutDaily! What were the Raw Story folks thinking! Fortunately, the comments there are excellent, refuting the article point by point (Hat-tip: TNG of Neural Gourmet - Update: this link now points to TNG's response to the article)

Update: The Editor of Raw Story wrote an incredibly stupid and insulting preamble to the article, defending Melinda Barton. You can also no longer access the article from the Raw Story front page, only via links from blogs (my link above is still working OK, for now). Whoever hired him to be an editor! Raw Story is going to suffer from this story for a long time, as the amateurishness of the editorial team was exposed brightly.

Read more comments on the piece (there is a link to comments at the very bottom with 200+ comments so far) and also check out some excellent responses by bloggers:

Melinda Barton, Religious Bigot: Most Atheists are Whackjobs
Hey, bigotry lovers!
Et tu Brute?
Wanker of the Day
Look, Ma, I'm a 'secular whackjob'!
Defending Melinda Barton
The atheists under the bed
I'm a Secular Whackjob!
Raw Story Columnist Attacks Atheists and Secularists
Obnoxious article in Raw Story
You Might Be An Atheist Whackjob If...
Melinda Barton: Whackjob
For Future Reference
Look Ma You're a Secular Whackjob or Atheist Theological Disputation part N
The left's own religious whackjobs
Rebuttal to Raw Story’s ‘Extreme Atheism’
Well, *Somebody’s* a Whackjob Here
I have a new label - ’secular whackjob’
Atheist Whackjobs Of The World Unite!
Why I am an atheist whackjob