Time invested in disbelief

[Knight]

For me, I take the time for a few reasons, most of which have probably already been said.

For starters, many theists have very strong misconceptions about atheists/nonbelievers. Anyone who does not believe in the deity they do is somehow ignorant or evil. When you have ample knowledge to counter the ignorance idea, common people can starting coming out as atheists to show that we don't have two horns and a tail, as Dawkins has said.

Another reason is a much rarer occurrence, but it still happens every once in a while, and I am evidence of it. Due to the education of atheists on the evilbible.com forum (several years ago...the discussion forum is now down, which is a shame because I'd love to bring up some of the old threads), I slowly progressed from a devote Christian to a deist (of some sort...I called it energy), and finally to an atheist. I had simply lacked a proper understanding of the Big Bang, Evolution, etc.. I also had not thoroughly read the Bible until that point, though the debating encouraged me to do so in order to "gain the advantage" I thought...the opposite happened, thankfully (or unfortunately from the Christian perspective). Though I may be a rarity, I still think others simply need proper education to examine their beliefs. Believe it or not, I used to be a young Earth Creationist! hock: Damn I wish I could access those threads!