In the end, airlines set their policy on use of automation vs manual flight as a function of their assessment of the risk of one vs the other. If your airline had experienced mutliple tail strike accidents during situations when the crew had disconnected the automation, and none when the automation was being used, what do you think their decision would be? There are airlines with that as their track record.
As for my personal opinion, I believe that when I am flying my aircraft with a load of paying pax on board, I owe it to them to operate the aircraft in the way it was intended by the manufacturer and my company's SOPs as much as safely possible. Since I fly the A320 for a company that wants us to use the automation, that means I use it for the vast majority of my time in the air. I haven't disconnected the autothrust during a normal flight in years. I've practised it enough times in the simulator to honestly believe that I don't need to practise it on the line.
Does this mean I don't believe in the value of disconnecting the automation during routine line ops? No not really, but doing so does increase the risk of a tail strike or hard landing if the thrust and speed aren't properly managed during the approach and landing.