Theistic members occasionally indicate an interest in finding common ground with members who are non-theistic. A recent blog that addressed that topic may be helpful to those who are sincere.
Below are the paragraph titles and a link to the article. The writer went to some length discussing each topic.
An article that appeared in the LA Times outlined ten common myths that theists hold regarding atheists.1: Familiarize yourself with the common myths and misconceptions about atheists -- and don't perpetuate them.
2: Familiarize yourself with what it's like to be an atheist, both in the U.S. and in the rest of the world.
3: Find common ground.
4: Speak out against anti-atheist bigotry and other forms of religious intolerance.
6: Don't divide and conquer, and don't try to take away our anger.
7: If you're going to accuse an atheist or an atheist group of being intolerant -- be careful, and make sure that's really what they're being.
8: Do not -- repeat, DO NOT -- talk about "fundamentalist atheists."
9: Be aware of how religious belief gives you a place of mainstream and privilege.
http://gretachristina.typepad.com/greta ... eists.html
Below are paragraph titles – which were followed by discussion of the myths and a corrected position.
All attempts by theists to communicate with non-theists should be preceded by understanding of the meaning of the terms:1) Atheists believe that life is meaningless.
2) Atheism is responsible for the greatest crimes in human history.
3) Atheism is dogmatic.
4) Atheists think everything in the universe arose by chance.
5) Atheism has no connection to science.
6) Atheists are arrogant.
7) Atheists are closed to spiritual experience.
8) Atheists believe that there is nothing beyond human life and human understanding.
9) Atheists ignore the fact that religion is extremely beneficial to society.
10) Atheism provides no basis for morality.
http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text ... -atheism1/
Atheist
Agnostic
Ignostic
Non-Theist
Anti-Theist
A Google "define" search for the terms may be a good start toward understanding.
As a Non-Theist I suggest that the most important thing to understand regarding these issues is that all non-believers are NOT alike and do not share a doctrine or dogma. Non-believers tend to be individualists rather than conformists – " herding cats" comes to mind (compare to herding other domestic animals).
Theists, since they represent a majority in many or most societies, should have nothing to fear from the relatively small percentage of the population that refuses to worship gods.
