Beginner's Guide to Atheism.

[Whateverist]

To answer the "why do atheists need a guide?" question:

Atheism itself doesn't need a guide.  Atheism is the answer to a binary question - do you believe in a god or gods?  If the answer is 'no', congratulations, you're an atheist!  And that's all there is to it.  There's no proper way to be an atheist.  There's no holy tome, nothing to recite, no rituals involved.  No set path.

The thing is, however, that once one is an atheist, the world becomes a frustrating and potentially dangerous place.  We are the most hated minority on the planet.  There's a horde of fuckwits that come out of the woodwork to harass us.  Oddly, theists can handle people of different faiths far better than someone of no faith.  So we get no shortage of people who argue with what we don't believe in, or, better yet, people who try to tell us what we really believe (even though all such claims are laughably off the mark).  We're threatened with everything from eternal damnation (which isn't the threat theists think it is), to IRL ostracism, to prison and even death in less tolerant societies.  There's no shortage of theists who would do anything to increase their numbers, so they prey on weak and vulnerable fresh deconverts or about-to-deconverts like a pack of hyenas.

And it's not like I'm talking out of my ass here.  The usual suspects on this very forum have exhibited this behavior to one extent or another.  So, this isn't a guide on how to be an atheist, but rather how to survive in the face of all the bullshit the world throws at you simply for being one.

"Why do atheists need a guide?"  Because of people like you.

It's like waking up from a nightmare and finding that everyone hates you for not remaining in the dream time with them.