Here's where I am coming from.
I have spent over 45 years in religion. I was deep into it, as a JW. At the age of twelve I had serious doubts about God's character. I felt was not as loving as his Holy Autobiography suggested. In spite of these doubts, I embraced my parent's religion (having little other choice), and decided to not do things half-way.
As serious students do, I turned out to be a pretty good teacher of the Bible, and finally ministered as well as I could. I gave talks too... needless to say my research was done seriously. I went as far as I could, trying to understand semantics, with the help of Hebrew and Greek biblical dictionaries and a variety of concordances. One day, while preparing a talk, I stumbled across one of those scriptures that had shocked me at twelve, prompting a renewed concern (2 Kings 2:23-25). I've read it often... but my uncomfortable feelings were pushed away by my then religious bias.
In the days that followed, I started reading my Bible from the start, yet again. It was one of those eureka moments! "Touched by the Grace of Reason", as I put it now. My head and heart were spinning. Long before even reading a single line on Atheism, years went by — I was trying to curb my anger and disappointment is this god I now hated with all my heart. Consequently, I fell into a pretty steep depression... I only understand it now... at the time I didn't make the connection.
This is to be expected when you have invested a lifetime on a belief, and that you suddenly realize it was all for nothing, and that on top of that, you will disappoint your peers, and like in my case, even lose many.
I soon realized I was brought up to demonize any information that wasn't from within my religious enclosure. So I finally started to read about evolution - for which at this point -- I was still totally mocking. (I hated god, but I still believed he was the Creator.)
Then it happened again. A moment of sheer bliss... a sudden realization that Science was closer to any "truth" I have read before. Everything made sense... it also destroyed the account of the biblical creation... prompting the realization that god may not exist after all. But you don't shake faith off that easily. This was very painful (still is at times).
In the meantime, my wife gets more spiritual than before, and decides to kick me out of her life, claiming God understood her. I was an apostate. She believed she was in the right. I don't blame her, she is a good woman that gave me 12 beautiful years of her life, and 2 perfect kids — but she was clearly mind-controlled by her Religion. So we divorce, and the most precious thing of my life, my family, is shattered. (Turned out she had hidden intentions. 2 Months after our divorce, she married a 'brother', younger, better looking, and younger.)
Dozens of former friends shun me. I become the devil. By then, I discover Dawkins' "the God Delusion", and I actually weep while reading such logic and kindred spirit. I devour Harris' "The End of Faith", Hitchens' "God is Not Great", Stenger's "God, the Failed Hypothesis"... and more. My life, at that point, had made a 180 degree turn.
But then why the need to attack my old beliefs? Because my kids are being taught this stuff, and I am in fear of seeing them waste their life on this. Because it MATTERS what people believe, as it has consequences on others. Because this country is going backwards with religious fervor. Because people fly planes into buildings. Because moderates only empower the fundamentalists by making their Holy Books acceptable.
Because the WTS is a damn money-grabbing cult of the worse kind.
I have no wish nor reason to respect religion. It has historically been the downfall of progress. I accuse and fight it because it's time for humanity to evolve out of 2,000 years of superstitious belief and tradition. Religion used to be the only way to science, so it could be said it championed science at one time, and it did… but no more. Stem cell research, condom ban in Africa, creationism, women's rights… all things that make Religion one of the cancers of humanity. It's no wonder people believe that the Church believed the world was flat — which it didn't — but they deserve the amalgam of fact and legend. They are judged for what they push now. Ironically, NOBODY would trust a surgeon who operates on the basis of scientific or medical books that are 2,000 years old.
If religion didn't have the negative influence it had thru history, I would say that people have a right to call themselves what they like for whatever reason they like.
But it is not without consequence.
So yes, I am sensitive on the subject. I agree that everyone has, and deserves the right to be whatever they want. I would even fight for religious freedom. But that doesn't mean I won't argue its ills.
I hope this explains better where I'm coming from. I'm still hurting... so I feel an obligation to help others to avoid going thru this pain. And my pain is nothing compared to some women in North Africa. We still have a long way to go...
That's my story.