Doubting Dawkinses another breed of fanatic

Case 1: It is 6am and in my pathetic attempt to ward off ageing I am at the gym.

It's dark. I'm effing grumpy and sitting uncomfortably on what personal trainers call recumbent bikes.

They are designed for old women who broke their coccyxes in childbirth and need lower back support. OK, I made that up.

At my gym there are two bikes side by side. I usually sit next to other old women. Today, however, there is a young woman in her late 20s, beaming at me.

I just don't want anyone smiling at me at 6am. I don't want to acknowledge anyone or talk. I just want to pedal as fast as my wobbling thighs will allow so I can have ice-cream at dinner time.

I pant. The beaming continues. I pedal faster.

Then she says ''Jesus Christ.'' She is hardly moving her legs but she says ''Jesus Christ.''

She says Jesus will save me. Yes, it is still dark but this person is trying to convert me.

She is talking about faith and belief and why I should come to the next service at her church.

I stop pedalling.

"I have absolutely no interest in God of any kind and I really don't appreciate your attempt to talk to me about this," I say.

"Please don't do this again. I come here to try to get fit and I'll make up my own mind about religion, thanks," I add, which is a lot more polite than what I actually wanted to say.

Some friends said I behaved badly towards the beaming young woman; that I should have just mumbled and smiled back and made it sound like I might pop along to St Wenceslas next time I'm down that way; that I sounded anti-Christian and uncharitable, which is hardly surprising because I am not Christian and definitely not charitable.

Case 2: I am having an enjoyable 30 minutes browsing the internet when Richard Dawkins pops up. He has decided to let me know, via Twitter, that: "All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though."

I am reading his tweets and wondering what the hell is this about.

On Sunday night he was at it again. "Your God created the laws of physics, controls ten thousand billion billion stars. But what he really cares about is who you sleep with," he tweeted.

I'm baffled, then I recognise the beaming girl on the bicycle. Yes, Dawkins is an evangelical atheist who is determined to demean other religions so you can be persuaded by his.

Australian journalist and atheist Antony Loewenstein, co-author of For God's Sake, says evangelical atheism, or what is now called "new atheism", is on the rise - and he believes it is a direct result of the al-Qaeda attacks on the US on September 11, 2001.

"There's been a weird trend for people to overcompensate for what they perceive is a religious influence," he says. "They mimic the extremism or forcefulness of how important it is to not believe."

It is pretty unpleasant, bagging out all the other faiths in the most unpleasant way.

''It's almost an insecurity and a hatred of religions without acknowledging the many benefits faith can bring, '' Loewenstein says. "[The new atheists] ignore the fact that for billions of people around the world, religion brings hope."

Loewenstein is a Jewish-born atheist, so it is not as if he is carrying a flag for the God team. But, as he points out, atheist militants are not much of an advertisement for a world which, without God, is meant to be more tolerant and harmonious.

My view is that atheist evangelists might not yet be threatening to blow up buildings or mount terrorism attacks but they are certainly spreading a lot of hate and intolerance, which is precisely what they say religions do.

The fact is I don't believe in God. If I ever did, it was as a wafty 13-year-old who was just doing what my parents did. When I married a lapsed Catholic I toyed with converting - not for religious purposes but to keep my new family happy. That was not a good reason, so I kept my godless ways.

My atheism has not stopped my children from exploring all kinds of religious experiences.

I do not want my beliefs to be colonised in this way. Give me stuff to read and hear and see, but please do not imagine that promoting your faith while bagging the others will make a jot of difference.

I desperately tried to protect my children when they were young from the God-botherers so they could make up their own minds.

Now it looks as if we will all have to defend ourselves against the no-God-botherers, too.

Lock the door - and do not follow Richard Dawkins.

Twitter @jennaprice or email jenna_p@bigpond.net.au