I just got a copy of The God Delusion. I'm on Chapter 4 and have been enjoying it very much. I don't really agree on how Dawkins thinks we should handle religion. We should argue vehemently against it, yes, but not with the vigour he is advocating.

I'm afraid that if atheists start berating the religious, there will be a collective backlash. Perhaps that is unfounded worry.

After reading The God Delusion, I'm planning on reading Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. So, I have a lot to look forward to.

Does anyone have any reading suggestions? Anyone? Anyone?

As I do more and more research, critical thinking, contemplative and reflective thought and I come to my ultimate conclusions, my hope for a God existing dims more and more. I claim to be Atheist, and I claimed to not believe in God. But… not until recently, I don't think that I actually realized what that meant. I claim that I don't believe in God, but what exactly does that entail? I was confident in my proclamations because, deep down I remained comfortable in the fact that maybe, I could be wrong. That maybe, in the end there is a God, and in the end, Death won't be the absolute end. However, I realize now that that is just wishful thinking.

If I were asked how I would define a religion, I would probably say one of two things:
1) Religion is what is used to explain the origin, purpose, and destiny of humanity.
2) Religion is faith in that which cannot be proven, but is believed to be true anyway.

Since I am certainly not the authoratative standard of word definitions, I offer dictionary.com's definions of the word "religion" too:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/religion re·li·gion /rɪˈlɪdʒən/ –noun 1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

Everone is born an Athiest, I believe that God was created in the image of man and hense is a myth. I wasn't always an Athiest I served as a devote servant in a baptist church for 16 years (after my mother and father beat me repeatedly with a long wooden spoon and a slipper to become religious) and met a lot of good people there. I realised something though, as I was worshiping thin air and trying hard not to feel guilty about masterbating the previous day I realised that (through a complicated prosses) that religion is for wankers. Shortly after that I stopped masterbating or feeling guilty.

[i]Chris,

Thank you very much for your good response, and I, also, wish to affirm my respect for you as a person and express my appreciation for the fine manner in which you seek to uphold your point of view. I commend you for your thoroughness and forthrightness combined with what I take to be an attitude of humility. I hope you will detect the same attitude on my part for though I vigorously disagree with your main premises (as you do mine) I yet esteem you as one who possesses great inherent value and worth because you are made in the image of God. I have long ago given up thinking I am able to “save” anyone.

I feel as if many theists directly correlate atheists with 'devil worshipers' or completely misunderstand what atheism actually is. My Atheist Manifesto is my attempt at placing my views of the world in a tidy nutshell.