[why are atheists atheists/ believes it could be the result of
"brokenness"]


i agree -- if you are going to find out anything from people who don't
share your beliefs, do not attack them or condescend to them and hope
to get a neutral picture of them.  come to them with an open mind.


well, you do believe in something, as i see it, even if it is a sort
of "anti-belief" (no negative connotation meant; i mean simply that
you believe that God _does not_ exist).  christians can also feel that
sense of "difference", however, when they are associated with "those
weird televangelists who always talk about satan".  if you'll excuse
the cliched sound of this, everyone has to deal with his/ her
differences from other people.  i can understand how being an atheist
could be hard for you; being a christian is sometimes hard for me.


you should not have to repress how you feel -- you should be able to
discuss it without fear.  i think there are admirable things to learn
from any belief, which can enrich your own -- by asking myself the
questions that atheists may ask me, i can learn the answers and become
stronger in my faith.  if my faith can't support knowing the answers
to those questions, it is weak and untrue. 


in some way the pressures were different, of course, because you
"chose" your beliefs -- or are you saying that they were not your
choice, but born of necessity?  [please, no flames about whether or
not gay people "choose" their lifestyle -- that's elsewhere in this
newsgroup]


i'm not sure i understand this sentence -- could you explain?

[moderator points out that many/ most atheists aren't "hostile", they
just cease believiing in xiantiy/ religion]


ouch, yes.  part of being a christian is accepting _everyone_ with an
open heart -- including people of "our own camp" with whom we
completely disagree.  by the same token, i believe that accusation and
suspicion are not the best way to reach out to those not of our faith,
nor is it effective to try to browbeat people into accepting our
religion.  i have a different idea of mission: be what i am, a
christian who is happy in her faith, and if others see that and want
to know about either the happiness or the religion, i'll share what i
know without pressure and let them make their own decisions.  at some
point you just have to agree to disagree -- acceptance of diversity,
not uniformity, is the way to sow peace....


vera noyes