//andy-hughes, I understood Mibs post to refer to Christians. I've never heard of atheists having shepherds to lead their flocks.//
Of course Naomi. My posts are typically addressed to those who possess a modicum of rationality, apart from which any and all attempts at comprehensibility have by virtue of the reader invariably proven to succumb to unavoidable confusion. I suspect by now most such readers have learned to simply ignore me. As for those who do not share an equally modest a degree of intelligence, to avoid any further risk of apparent condescension, I will forego making any attempts to issue an apology.
In answer to the OP's question, if it has not already been stated or any other more or less eloquent answers have gone unappreciated, the all too obvious answer, in the case of all to whom the question rightly applies, is . . . stupidity.