looking for an intilectual sparing partner

[Jesster]

I don't buy the whole "default athiesm" neutrality stance. Can you prove to me you are genuine and open to evidence? Sorry i just don't believe you. What i mean is, i'm not convinced that one could be so noble as to set their bias aside for the sake of truth. From the biblical world view, you don't want god. You think god is a big meenie! Hmph! >

This is false. I'm sorry you don't accept our claims of what atheists personally believe. Coming here and telling us we believe otherwise doesn't help anything, though.

This is what I do instead (although I borrowed this from TAE). I ask people what they believe and why. I don't tell them what they do or not believe, because that would just be cutting them out of the conversation.

For example, you have said that you believe in God. I am going to listen to what you think about that God instead of just comparing you to other people who believe in a god. I am willing to take your word on that. From that point, we can have a conversation about it. It would do me no good to claim that I don't believe that you believe that.