Some more thoughts on the faith that is materialist/skeptical evangelism:
There are people who are simply driven by sincere curiosity about the nature of reality and find materialism (with perhaps a dash of largely ineffectual panpsychism) the most compelling option, and then there are those who see immaterialism as a threat that requires a strong response. Apparently they see a supposedly strong causal link where any immaterialism leads to encroachment of the "Church" on secular democracy.
This fear has been discussed by Chalmers and Searle.
Atheist Gary Wolf discussed how ridiculous this supposed slippery slope is, and I think it's rather obvious after a moment of reflection. A variety of other personages in that thread have noted the cultish thinking of those who see any and all immaterialism as a threat to modernity and secular democracy.
So if the overreach of the evangelical materialist seems obvious to many - including some who would identify as materialists or at least atheists - what drives people to enlist in the battle against supposedly "irrational" thinking? I suspect the reasons given in
The Pathology of Organized Skepticism - bad experiences with religion growing up leading to desire for retrocausal vengeance and/or self-loathing for prior gullibility leading to projection about the mental susceptibility of others. There's likely some subconscious adherence to the False Dilemma that the only choices are materialism or Dark Age religious reactionary attitudes, given End of Materialism author Tart recalling the sense of freedom that came when
the materialist-based Western Creed allowed him freedom from decades of conditioned faith-based guilt regarding sexuality and the notion of sin.
Beyond that there's a more general assessment to be made of internet activism in the modern age. A desired outlet for aggression & status combined with a desire for a meaningful existence. By adopting the hard line against immaterialism, a materialist evangelical claiming skepticism is able to act as though s/he is an intellectually superior being participating in a
Chaoskampf where the stakes are nothing less than the future of civilization via the advancement of secular humanism.
As I mentioned above TAM 2014 would be a good place to research my hypothesis, but I suspect the Eye of Skepticism wouldn't want to be turned upon itself.
<<insert appropriate smiley>>