Thanks for creating a forum with real debate!

[Ryantology]

I think there are atheist principles. Fundamental, dogmatic atheist principles.

Name them, and follow it with doctrinal evidence which insists that all atheists must follow them.

Rationalism and enlightenment principles are not uniquely atheistTM principles because atheists can be deliberately ignorant, irrational and unenlightened about their own atheism. Atheism is attended by dogmatic a priori assumptions and illogical assertions. It can certainly be shown to be every bit as much of a faith-based worldview as those which atheism condemns as irrational.

Atheists can be anything at all, pretty much. An atheist can be selfish, lazy, stupid, hateful, spiteful, mean, capricious, jealous, petty, violent, wicked and cruel. The only difference between us and you is that we do not worship a god who embodies every one of the qualities I just listed.

Being an atheist requires no real faith at all. All it requires is for you to look around, note the complete lack of any evidence pointing to the existence of any gods (much less the mass murdering criminal you consider to be the ultimate good in the universe), and accept it as reality. The only faith you have to hold is that man's gods are fictional, which is an extremely tiny leap of faith to take because not one single follower of any god or gods has ever demonstrated, even once, that they are real.

I think your personal view of what atheism is and is not, (like my personal view) is an individual view not a collective view held by all/most atheists.

It doesn't matter whether others who call themselves atheists agree or not with this statement. The word, itself, means "without god". Anything beyond that is, simply, beyond that. That is the single, sole requirement to be an atheist. The inverse is the same: the label 'theist' requires a belief in a god, or something like a god. That's it. There are no further requirements. You can be a theist who is a rational, scientifically-literate and secular individual, and just because most theists do not fit this description doesn't mean a theist can't fit that description.

We can write books, form communities and fight theological intrusion into every day life, but there is no reason a single atheist must ever do any of those things. Whereas, one must believe a number of specific things (while rejecting a vastly larger number of others) to be a Christian. Do you see the problem, there? You have to take the same, exact, leaps of faith we must take about all other religions and take it a huge number of steps further by believing in your God and whatever other nonsense you feel is necessary to make you feel as if you are safe from a threat, and privy to rewards. You believe in a religion which appeals directly to the lowest animal instinct: do what you think gets you the rewards and avoid what you think will get you punishment. We are subject to those same animal instincts, naturally, but most of us are probably honest enough to admit it.

The main thing between atheists and your specific brand of theism is that you have a scripture which commands you do to terrifying, horrible things, which the vast majority of believers refuse to do because they have managed to convince themselves that it isn't necessary. If those people had some more integrity, they would admit that they refuse to follow Biblical law because it is almost completely incompatible with human society. We have no such doctrine. We can do whatever we want, understanding that there are consequences for our actions right here, on Earth. We can believe in whatever we want, for whatever reason we want, and still be atheists, as long as gods are not part of that belief.