If I were an Atheist

[Ravenshire]

Atheism is merely a response to the irrational, unprovable and often downright idiotic claims about imaginary men who live in the sky and care deeply about each and every one of us but will send us to a place of infinite torment for finite transgressions some of which are neither immoral nor unethical.

That's it, nothing more, nothing less.

Yes all that is great. But does the topic of god existing even deserve conversation? When something is so obviously a fairy tale why do we even need to debate it? I am questioning why I even joined this forum.

You have a point and I even agree that the conversation over whether gawd exists or not is largely moot.

However, in the face of harassment and even persecution at the hands of believers, the need to defend one's beliefs (or lack there of) becomes important.

There's more to be learned here than just the best arguments to beat down theists with. I was initially drawn to online atheist communities as a place to vent. Being a bit argumentative, I started poking the theists that wandered through with a stick. While I still do some of that, I also join in on a lot of the off-topic threads and lurk on even more. I can say with absolute certainty I've learned more about science from discussions here and the links posted in the last year than I did in all of high school.

If your really questioning why you joined, I would ask "What do you hope to find here?" If you see nothing of value, by all means you are free to depart. Personally, I hope you don't