However, in every conversation I play out in my head where I try to talk about what we're doing here with someone who's not part of it, they start to think we're a cult within about thirty seconds.
No, no, no... It's not a cult, you've just joined the "movement" to "promote greater awareness" of the "cause" of rationality. ;-)
This has been discussed some, but I don't think it's been the sole subject of a top-level post. I want to find out other people's ideas rather than driving the discussion into my ideas, so I'm asking the question in a very general form, and holding off on my own answers: