I don't argue. I just make jokes that sometimes have a little point to them. Life is too short for arguing about things that are unproven and so far, unprovable.
A lot of people unfortunately ARE afraid of atheists because they've been misinformed, as Harris points out. I think some religions are afraid of them because they truly believe that without God and churches, people will start running amok and molesting collies, marrying turtles and voting Democrat. LOL No but seriously, some people are under the entirely mistaken impression that Christianity is the cement of American society, or even government, and they're not at all right about that. Whatever else Christianity is, it's not that. It's just a belief system in one of many that humans have held over the millenia, and surprise, people didn't do that horribly without it's wonderful and beneficent influence. *sarcasm*
I think I understand atheists pretty well, one has been my best friend for nearly 15 years. Along the way, she helped me quit being a JW with a lot of patient reasoning, and I got her to sort of almost believe that not all people who still kind of almost believe in God aren't that scary.
I don't blame atheists for being skittish about religion because belief is a powerful thing and can be used very badly and greedily by religions, as is evident from reading any sort of halfway accurate history book.