Quote:I guess I believe in something greater because I believe in something minor. Though I don't believe in religion, I'm very interested in reading a doctrine called Spiritualism, propelled by Allan Kardec in France, then down to Latin America.
Though atheists are known to call out, say, a Christian on his ideals of God compared to the evil tyrant depicted in the Bible, most atheists I know treat that as beside the point. I think what Kayenneh is getting at is that, to us (if I can assume I speak for her and a lot of others), your beliefs are exactly as unlikely to be true as those of a hardcore Christian fundamentalist because the disbelief of the supernatural means we automatically reject all specific examples of supernatural beings or concepts.
The erosion of my faith has taken most of my adult life to complete, but there are some who do lose it in a powerful instant. My girlfriend is an example. She was a reasonably observant Jew until she suffered a terrible tragedy involving her fiance. It murdered her faith. She doesn't miss that, at least, because it meant she could discover the joys of bacon. I really don't think there are that many people who suddenly give up faith as the result of an argument or mere intellectual consideration, though. Faith is a personal thing for the people who have it, I think it usually takes a significant life experience to really get things started.