Is it a good idea to be an atheist?

[Jenny A]

Hello,

I just want to ask a little, simple question here, to all atheists?

Rarely a auspicious begining, but OK.

Let us turn the question around. Let us ask an atheist why he doesn't believe.

Most likely, we will hear something like "I only believe what I see" or "Why would a God let little innocent children die in a natural disaster?"

The reason you have probably heard over and over in this thread is the same: complete lack of evidence. It's the same reason I don't believe in unicorns or that crop circles were created by aliens.

That innocent children die is not proof that there is no god, only that if there is, he/she/it doesn't care about innocent children.

Then we tell him, "you realize you can help humanity a great deal by sharing your answer with the rest of the world?". "The world will be so much better knowing somebody has found a definite proof God does not exist because [his answer]". "You will be rewarded with a Nobel Prize and all wars will stop thanks to your thoughtfulness."

Sorry. But not believing in things until there is evidence for them has helped science progress, but it won't prove god doesn't exist. So thank skeptics everywhere for improvements in medicine, computers, transportation, etc. Their demand for evidence has greatly benefited the world. And some of them have been given the Nobel.

But none of them will ever be given the Nobel for proving there is no god, because proving a negative is not possible. If however, you prove there is a god, there might be a Nobel in your future.

You see, the difference between a believer and an atheist is a believer believes and an atheist thinks he is right.

I believe I'll go on thinking. And I think that when people stop thinking and decide only to believe in what they what to rather than what can be proven, humanity will die of starvation. What I don't understand is why you give thinking a miss when it comes to this one topic: god.