Because we live in the Western world. Many of us grew up in Christian families and its dogma affects us in our daily lives.

I don't know. I find it interesting.

So?

Because they are worthless at best and detrimental to the individual and/or society at worst.

So?

Hail Satan.

My apologies Loc,

for not doing my research. You are right they do believe that Jesus is the Son of God but they don`t believe he is God. Which means they do not believe in the trinity.  I found a confirmation of this from a JW here

I`ll talk to you later

Read some of the other threads here before you post things that were already answered dozens of times on here. Evolution/natural selection is NOT random accident. I certainly don't believe I was poofed into existance by an invisible man who lives in the sky. Besides, even if humans were "created" the creator could just as easily be the Flying Spaghetti Monster as the Christarded god.

No, we won't. Our brain functions will have shut down. We will have no means by which to "find out" anything. We will simply cease to be.

How am I supposed to know if you're going to ask questions?

For those that do, it's familiarity, relevance or quantity. And there are many that don't. Don't feign persecution, I can't take the side stitches.

Gross. When you put all your value in a stupid mythical figure, it creates these nasty nihilistic counterpoints that most atheists simply don't experience. You end up asking questions like that. To (groan) answer your question, it's because the real world is affected by real people who are informed by ideas that may not be real; which affects all of us when it comes to society, culture, politics, etc. Even environmentalism is affected slightly by people believing we don't need to preserve the planet because Jesus will be back soon.

It would be touching if it weren't perfunctory and condescending.

Some great responses here. Take them to heart. Atheists are not your enemy, we are not anyone's enemy. Getting people to think outside their book and consider that what they believe may not be true, is the goal of skeptics.

There are tons of stereotypes Christians falsely have, just like at one point in history most whites would clutch their purse in an elevator if a black man walked in, some of that crap unfortunatly still exists.

Our advice is to treat everyone here as an idividual. Just as I don't equate all Muslims to Osama, just as I don't equate all Christians to Pat Robertson, do not assume all atheists are like me.

I will admit that I am one of those "frothy atheists" who is "in your face". But that is a matter of comfort on my part and your part. You will run into atheists who like the library type discussions and others like me, who don't take a verbal brawl personally. I am simply more comfortable in the boxing ring. I don't assume that the Christian who hops in there with me hates me.

Here is the truth about atheists.

1. We don't love Hitler.

2. We are not clones of each other. 

We come from all economic and political backgrounds. The only thing we have in  common is that we dont buy claims of the super natural, other than that, we are just as diverse and different as any theist label.

3. We don't want a lawless society.

4. We do have morals. We just don't assign them to coming from a magic lawgiver in the sky be it called Allah, Jesus or Osirus.

5. We wont give you cooties are BBQ your kittens.

I can only speak for the greatness of America because this is my home. Our Constitution is fantastic in that every question aimed at anything is fair game and no topic is taboo, including religion. And the founders clearly backed that up.

"Question with boldness even the existence of God, for if there be one, surely he would pay more homage to reason than to that of blindfolded fear" Thomas Jefferson.

Our goal is to spread reason and SHOW, not via force of government, but SHOW people that they don't need to guide their lives based on ancient stories.

Open your mind here and learn, and be unafraid to learn. No one is going to hate you personally, but if you don't make a case, we simply wont buy what you sell.

All of the atheists here have family members or co-workers or friends to some degree, some more than others, that are theists. Atheists don't desire a fascist state with an attitude of forcing the end of religion through government.

We do however, think more and more people, when given the opportunity to explore things other than ancient stories, will come to the conclusions we have. Many of us here once believed what you did. But it was through deep investigation and introspection that we were honest with ourselves and could no longer hold that position. We merely are offering you that same opportunity.

And one more thing. Other atheists here might not object to "God Bless", but I do, just as a Jew would object to eating a ham sandwich if you invited them to lunch. It is not my thing, it is your thing.

So at least with me, when responding to ME(because I only speak for me), don't end your posts with that. Others here might not mind, but I do.

The length of your stay depends on you. Treat us as individuals and don't preach and you will find that even if you don't change your position, you will at a minimum, see us as being just as human and diverse as any theist of any label.

Google "True Scotsman Fallacy".

What you think others should believe or how they should behave is a separate issue than what is actually in their brain.

Pat Robertson and Jessie Jackson are both Christians and so is Mit Romney. They merely have different versions that they believe of "what is", but they all believe that Jesus is the son of god.

I don't make the mistake you do. I don't say, "that is not a true atheist". If someone says, "I lack belief in god or gods" they are an atheist, no matter how I think they should think or how they behave.

Don't feel bad, Muslims do the same thing. The Sunnis point at the Shiites and say, "They are not true Muslims" and the Shiites point at the Sunnis and say, "They are not true Muslims".

Your mistake is mixing two separate issues.

1. How you think people should think and behave.

Is completely separate from the issue of

2. What the person actually thinks in their brain.

All atheists have the common core of "lack of belief". Just as all Christians have the common core that Jesus was the son of god. Just as all Muslims have the common core that Allah is the one true god.

Well, here's a tricky one: How's that wrong? If we are to take the God of Abraham (Elohim, Jehovah, YHVH, whatever) as 'The Father', as 'Abba', as we're led to throughout the judeo-christian teachings, then we are His children because He created us, and caused us to exist, yes?

Did He not also create, and cause to exist, Lucifer? Is Lucifer not, then, a 'child of God'? Are then not all of the angels, in a sense, our brethren, and brothers to Christ?

It seems like something's getting forgotten... a small thing, just one word, but it should be remembered that it's a distinction that's only been dropped from translations of the Nicene Creed in the last fifty or so years. I'll bold the relevent bit here:

See the important bit? Not the 'only Son', but 'only-begotten Son'. If God is our Father, then Christ is not God's only son... but the only one who was formed of the very essence of God, the only one who, in a divine sense, is 'blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh' to God.

Considering that, how is Lucifer not a son of God, and a brother to Christ? How is he less these things than we are, which we are held to be by all Christian denominations, be they Baptists, Calvinists, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, or Ethiopian Orthodox.

Well, the Trinity wasn't fully canonized until the Council of Nicaea in 325... before that, there were plenty of Christian splinter groupd (Arianism, for example) that held that either Christ was not God, or that the Son had not always existed, but rather came to be as a facet of God with the birth of Christ. So, that really doesn't seem to exclude them from being 'Christian', simply from being Christian as set down by the Council of Nicaea. And given that not all of the Ecumenical Councils were adopted by all of the early Church (example: The Council of Chalcedon was never accepted by the Alexandrian Pope, or the churches under the administration of that Apostolic Throne), that doesn't really invalidate them at all.

Nice to see you still around. I'm glad you've learned something here,I hope you'll keep posting. I admire that you can admit if you're wrong and didn't get unreasonably defensive.Please stick around and ask more questions if you have.

I don't agree with responding to theist claims as "the invisible guy in the sky" as a form of ridiculue. I see it repeated in here and I just don't think it's serious enough. If I was a theist coming here to learn more or to be challenged I would hope someone wouldn't resort that low of an intellectual discussion.

It's just as dumb as when creationists say we believe everything was an accident. You can use the invisible guy in the sky joke referring it to Christian metaphors, but they are much more serious than that and they deserve more seriousness.

Granted that ridicule or emotional appeal does have its place.

Haha, well yeah but I think they take it much more seriously than that.

MJB, what is your opinion of it?

I meant that they define it much more seriously than the way it was defined by theotherguy.