Did you read through what I wrote, taking time to consider what I was trying to say, or did you just start spewing as you went along? You assume that I am trying to cram my beliefs down your throat, that I and every other person of faith has arrived at their belief MINDLESSLY, having never questioned anything, but simply believed because we were told to. This is arrogant and prejudicial, and more than a little insulting. Just because I believe in something that you don't doesn't mean that I am not capable of critical thought, I am not trying to force my belief on anyone. Nor am I attacking science as being wrong "because the bible says so". I am not a "creationist", and I've not only studied the bible, but I have researched how it came about. The canon has the thumb prints of men all over it. Religion is, in my view, a social construct, subject to manipulation by men, for their own purposes. Those being mostly to control the masses through fear, and take their wealth while doing so. If you weren't so quick judge me and paint me as a dumbass believer, you would discover that I probably agree with you on a lot of things. But you are on a mission. A mission of trying to get just one poor deluded believer to think, because then what? Then they will see how stupid they were, and how right you are? You aren't cramming your non-belief down anyone's throat, but if you can just get them to think, then they will come around to your way of thinking. If you can just get them to use their brains, then they will see the foolishness of believing in fairy tales. And you will have yourself a convert. Will you be satisfied? I doubt it. Once you taste to sweetness of the newly converted, well, you will want more.

btw: Critical thought is anathma to religious dogma, not "the anathema of". Now, I won't speak to the differences between theism and atheism, or the differences between atheists and believers, That would be generalizing, which is fast track to ending up with one's foot in one's mouth. What I will address is the differnce between you and I.
I don't assume that you are a lesser person because you are an atheist. I don't think your non-belief means you have no moral compass, or that your non-belief makes you "evil",
I know for a fact that most atheists are more in line with true Christian morality** than most Christians are. The most evil acts that mankind commits always come from those who believe themselves to be righteous. Goodness isn't a function of faith,. Your lack of belief does not make you one bit less of a human than me. You cannot say the same of me. By the very words you wrote, my belief means that I'm not capable of critical thought. Since I believe, I cannot be as smart as you are.

My point was that the atheist and the theist are human, and therefore, subject to the same weaknesses and imperfections that plague all of us. I could give a flying fuck at a rolling donut about what you believe or don't believe. It is really none of my business. Belief is and should always be a personal issue. I look at atheists like yourself, who are so bent on trying to make people understand there is no God, and I look at the "religious", who believe in freedom, as long as everyone believes like they do, and I don't see a whole lot of difference. The lot of you all trying to validate yourselves by finding people of like minds to agree with them. Pretty human, that. I liked atheists more when they were content to not believe quietly. I used to pray, "God please save me from your followers". Now that non-believers are preaching their non-belief with the same vigor as their counterparts, I just pray for quiet. I have no use for those trying to tell me what I should think, as if they know any better than I do.


**Doing unto others, being tolerant, setting aside judgment, and aggressively forgiving people for being people.