Devoted Atheist Dave reader “Andrea” added a decent comment on my post from 2 April, Prayer is Futile, but then followed up with the inane I don’t believe you’re an atheist. You wouldn’t be spending this much time writing about a Person whom you claim you don’t believe in.
By this incredibly well-thought out religious logic, we can conclude that:
– J. R. R. Tolkien believes Middle Earth and hobbits exist.
– J. K. Rowling believes Hogwarts and the wizarding world are real.
– George Lucas believes wookiees and Jar Jar Binks exist.
– Jim Davis thinks bright orange talking cats who love lasagna exist.
– Walt Disney really believed in talking mice, dogs, and ducks.
And so on, and so forth.
The point here is that a lot of people write or talk about things they don’t believe exist. This is entertainment, baby. It’s called “make believe.” You, as a theist, should know about making believe all too well. It’s all right, I had imaginary friends when I was a kid, too. I even believed in Santa. But I grew out of all of them. That’s another one, by the way: parents, especially around Christmas, seem to talk about Santa Claus an awful lot. Does that mean they believe he exists?
As far as what I would or wouldn’t be doing as an atheist, who are you to say? The only thing you know I will not be doing, based on my being atheist, is believing any gods exist. That is the only thing my atheism tells you about me.
I didn’t think I’d have to point this out, since my audience is made up primarily of atheists, nonbelievers, agnostics, and rational thinkers (surprise, I’m not actually trying to [de]convert anyone – I have a feeling it’d take more than a blog to do that). But let’s see if this helps you understand:
Sometimes when I make a post specifically talking about the Christian god and pointing out its logical inconsistencies and flaws I will assume, just for the sake of argument, that said god actually exists. That’s a literary device. It’s akin to saying, “Okay, if your god exists as your Bible describes it, then we know these things about it…” That doesn’t mean I believe it exists. For the sake of simplifying things I omit the disclaimer at the end of every post, but I’ll provide one for you now.
Disclaimer: I do not believe in a god or gods, nor have I as long as this blog has been active. If I ever come across as though I do believe in a god or gods, just remind yourself that I do not believe in a god or gods.
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Atheist Dave 
I wish unicorns were real, but Middle Earth would creep me out. At this point, I think one of the biggest Fairy Tales is the Efficacy and Success of the United States Congress… 😉
I tried to be an Atheist once, but I just couldn’t pull it off. Perhaps I was too frightened to let go of my cosmic safety net…The Bearded One in the Sky kept haunting me, wagging his finger and shaking his head. I was too scared to be an atheist…now, like not choosing to color my grays, I’ve just accepted that its not for me. Is it alright that I send you “bravos!” for being that brave? …or is that just stupid? …anyway, nice post.
theist and atheist requires faith..
It requires as much faith to not believe in god as it does to not believe Shrek is a true story.
Wrong. Fail. Etc. You’re a muppet if you think this is true. You must also need reminders to breathe, and you must never, ever, under any circumstances be allowed to breed. Get yourself a lobotomy for everyones sake. Please don’t ever vote for anything, you’re just too stupid. It breaks my heart to be in the same species as you.