What was it like being an atheist?

[Angrboda]

Ignoring this last little altercation and getting back to the OP a little, it occurs to me that the questions suggest that, to the poster, Germans, atheism implies more than simply "lack of belief." I wouldn't go so far as to suggest that the claim that the trope that a person who was "a True Atheist[tm] could never become a True Theist[tm]" is the mirror image of its reverse (True Theist[tm] or True Christian[tm] --> True Atheist[tm]), because I doubt they are. But if atheism is 'merely' lack of belief, then why would it be difficult to believe that somebody could start to believe something they didn't believe before, if it is only lack of belief? It appears to me, imho, that to suggest that a True Atheist[tm] would in some way be incapable of having been a True Atheist[tm], that there is the implication that a person who holds the values or attitudes of an atheist could never become a theist (ignoring the crass accusations of simple dishonesty for the moment). What would these 'things' that would prevent a person from becoming a True Theist[tm] be if atheism is mere "lack of belief" ? It suggests that Germans himself may be lying if he insists, which I think he has, that atheism "is nothing more than" lack of belief to him.

Anyway, I was going to attempt to answer the OP's questions in addition to this point, but I suddenly feel a lack of motivation toward doing so. Maybe I will at a later time.