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I try to give equal time to all the gods that I don't believe in.

Religion is a huge force in the world. Good, bad or mixed, it's inescapable.

When something is a major component of the Human Condition, it's notable.

None.

wanted to make you and your children believe this too and were willing to change laws, education and polices to force this

how long would it take before you started speaking out?

Like all conscientious people who care about what goes on in the world, we are all struggling to define the best way for us to live.

There are good things in the world and there are bad things in the world. What is good and bad, and in what degree, depends on your perspective.

When it happens publicly, it is generally regarded by atheists as either gauche or extreme.It seems most extreme when it enters into political or other ostensibly secular arenas, like school.

the strengths of these secular institutions depends widely on the separation of religious and secular activities and ideologies

this resembles a backslide into barbarism and ignorance

For the atheist, it is a frightening prospect that people want to hinder education or freedoms based on Biblical writings.

if I did not care about the world, I would have nothing to say about God.

Both I, and the most extreme fundamentalist, want only to live in the best way we know how.

As an atheist, I personally have no qualm with any belief in a deistic God.

When I see people pushing other people around, trying to take away their rights of people, or hurting people in some way, I get angry.

For this atheist, it isn't about God, it's about how we treat people.

There is an unfortunate crossover with religion and social justice.

I am only concerned with the ways in which religion, as I see the world, hurts the vision I have of how we should best live. There are grave incompatibilities with that vision.

I don't believe in spirits, or souls, or gods or reincarnation. I do believe in finding meaning, in finding the "path to the self", and finding the best way to live in this world.

hope for the future elevation of humanity to freedom, to the best possible health and cooperation

There is beauty and wisdom in every belief system, but also there is ugliness and ignorance to be found, and I see it as a detriment to humanity if we simply avoid the hard work of re-examining those parts, and simply allow people to say "It is God's will, we've got a book that says so."

What am I talking about? Subjugation of women, ostracism of homosexuals, teaching creation myths as science to children, circumcision of boys by Jews, of girls by certain sects. From the eyes of an atheist, doing these things in 2012 is an archaic nightmare. Allowing these things to happen out of a fear of offending people is a most ludicrous failure of humanity.

a human person wrote any words in any book ever written. There are no gods, no sons of gods, and no prophets. To hold another person hostage for words written by a man, who possessed all the frailties we have today, but had far less knowledge, seems a dangerous and singularly terrible act to condone in this time. We know there is no basis for it, and it is frightening to see those who are willing to commit violence and abuse in the name of God and call it "good".

it seems simply like folly or madness

They had a belief that their view of the world was the right one, just as I have a view of the world that I believe is the right one.

To the atheist, it resembles a wave of madness taking over people.

billboards

I know a lot about "this God" theists believe in

It is always good to engage your mind in an intellectual exercise

I was once a believer

I'm more certain on my position now that I ever was when I believed in god

it helps me refine my thoughts

often I find myself discussing something with a theist who has a strong intellect - and this is entertaining in the same way a sports person, or chess player, enjoys meeting their match or better; it gives me a chance to stretch and test myself - see where I might need to improve my "game".

All we do is try and unpack the reasons behind things

After unpacking these reasons the conclusion is baffling; These things are done, people are tortured, children are abused all in the name of a story.

I find belief in god and other supernatural entities an interesting human and social phenomenon.

Religion teaches to be satisfied with not understanding.

Religion teaches to not question authority.

Religion teaches a twisted concept of evidence and logic.

Religion advocates intolerance.

Religion promotes immorality.

Religion promotes inaction.

Religion inhibits progress.

I talk about the silly, stupid and vicious things that some people who claim to believe try to impose on the rest of us.

And sometimes I applaud the wonderful things that people of good character and religious belief do

What people do in this world matters.

Think of it as self defense.Atheists don't talk about their views until religious people refuse to shut up about theirs.

surrounded by theists trying to ram their beliefs down everyone else's throats, incorporating their religion into the government and legal system, corrupting the educational system by blurring the difference between fact and belief, and murdering and hurting people in the name of their "god"

Why should anyone assume that if one disbelieves in something, especially something that a lot of other people keep saying they believe in, one should not talk about it?

Why do anti-war people talk so much about war if they don't believe in war? Pretty much the same reason for atheists and talk about god.

I only really talk about it when someone else brings it up. Since I live in the United States, this happens about every ten minutes.

large percentages of each country believes in some God

They have TV shows to broadcast their beliefs

Approach with caution and come with gifts

huge gatherings

radio shows

You have people standing in the street, shouting at you, telling you how you are going to hell

You have religious people questioning evolution, preaching creationism, questioning the Big Bang and promoting God-magic.

some people still insist in teaching their children that an invisible being thought the universe into existence, and that believing this is more rational than to trust science's explanation of the same event

Religion is stepping on my toes - a response is pretty much expected don't you think?

if 'talking about God' means 'talking about theology,' then Atheists totally have a right and a commission to do so, because theology can be done by both adherents and non-adherents

Atheists have been portrayed as belligerent, annoying twerps who need to be quiet; when, in reality, their calling out religion needs to be applauded. This is the 21st century—a supposedly new era—and Atheists are doing a good job of calling out politicians and leaders who cannot and will not rationalize their decisions outside of a faith context.

So many people do boneheaded things in the name of God, both those doers and their God need to be called out...and that calling out is often done by Atheists.

I, for one, find religion/mythology fascinating.

bad things religion pushes and endorses

we do not have to believe anything on insufficient evidence

the harms it can bring

that is a serious problem

Atheists do not keep talking about god. They keep getting asked about it

it's a part of our history and culture that is hard to ignore

we don't like being lied to

there's no reason to believe it

try to reason

they might believe in the power of groups of people, working in unison with a common spirit

These notions may give them hope.

I prefer to embrace the truth

I believe neither in God nor in any supernatural forces. My life depends largely on myself and partly on other people and random factors.

Most of the time I don't feel I need any hope, life is pretty good as it is. I enjoy it.

The hands that help are better far than lips that pray.

Without religion, we'd have good people doing good things, and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

To sit alone with my conscience will be judgment enough for me.

The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.

What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof.

The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism.

Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it.

One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion.

Religion is an insult to human dignity.

If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.