Do you wish there's a god?

[Alan V]

It's frustrating when someone says "Christians believe X," and I know for a fact that Augustine, Aquinas, Dante, Nicholas of Cusa, Jacob Boehme, and William Blake all didn't believe that. I have been told straight out that when someone says "Christian," they only want to talk about the dumb ones. 

To me the whole subject -- theology, the arts that are related to it, and the insight it gives into people -- is a source of great beauty. It didn't occur to me that I had to choose a side and fight until I started looking at sites like this one. But one thing I have learned -- choosing a side tends to close the mind. It would make me sad to shut out the source of so much greatness.

The problem is that beauty does not equal truth. I have read a lot of art history and appreciate the talents of great painters, even though I simultaneously acknowledge they also acted as religious propagandists.

The fact that Christians, let alone theists in general, believe in such a wide range of different and contradictory ideas speaks poorly of any rational basis for their beliefs. Therefore, pointing out how different groups of Christians believe in different doctrines is a strategy that works better for atheists. One paragon for every million intellectual failures is not exactly a recommendation.

If you don't think atheists have good critiques for a wide range of God-concepts and religious beliefs, please be so kind as to point out those you don't think we have addressed adequately.

Also please remember that historical figures who were brilliant for their times would be considered very poorly informed by modern standards. It follows that those who still refer to them as illuminaries very possibly couldn't stand up to modern critiques.