lso,

[pocaracas]

Hi! I'm a theist, but I've always been curious about what atheists believe about life, origins, etc. I was wondering if some of you could answer some (really) basic questions for me:

It is customary to introduce yourself with a thread in the intro area of the forum, before you bring out you high-school/uni research paper questions...

But I don't care for that, so let's look at your questions...

How did the human race/world originate?

The human race originated in Africa, apparently, through the evolution of some archaic primates which developed in that environment...

What, if any, intrinsic value do we have as a species (in other words, is there something special about human beings that makes us different from other species?)?

We have larger brains... generally speaking.
Opposable thumbs help, but are not only present in our species.

What meaning, if any, does life have?

42, everyone knows that!

Where, if anywhere, does the idea of right and wrong come from?

Your upbringing.

What happens to people when they die? Do they just cease to exist, or does something else happen (maybe an electric discharge that gets recycled somehow)?

In some cultures, they get buried or cremated.
Some other cultures mummify the body.
Others just burn it.
Others leave it for the animals to eat.

Some also offer body parts so that other people can make good use of them.

Also, I was wondering a little how atheists feel about Christians (I know the party line I get from the churches in the Bible Belt where we live, but I wanted to talk to atheists themselves to see what they think).

"the party line"? Being from Europe, I don't know what that is... care to explain?
How do I feel about christians? The same as I feel about other believers in mythology.... poor deluded people... still, most are nice people.

Finally, I'm sure a lot of you have been approached by Christians to join their faith. What was your experience with that, and was anyone convincing?

If they had been convincing, I wouldn't be an atheist!

Actually, I've been approached by very few people with that idea in mind and I managed to deflect it after a maximum of one minute... Around here, a simple "not interested" suffices to get others to lay off.

These really are just curiosity questions. I've always been a theist, bit I have a lot of respect for atheists and have enjoyed talking with the (very) few I've met.

What I said about the theists, also tends to apply to atheists: most are nice people.
Being nice does not correlate with religiosity.