No we don’t.

“How often do you hear that?  It’s rarely mentioned.  He never asked for donations, or to be blessed financially for his ministry.  He said his burden was light and his yoke was easy.  I like that.  With all that is going on in the world, I don’t need any more burdens.”

He also said he came to bring not peace, but a sword, and divide families asunder. No burdens there.

“Spiritually there is no gray area.”

Maybe there is simply no spirituality to allow for white, black, or gray.

“They probably don’t smack you over the head with a Bible, or talk down to you when you are already there.”

I see this far too often. It’s antagonizing and arrogant. It’s what you’re doing in this article.

“It should a group of people that seek to help their neighbors.”

I’m all for that. But why is religion or god or spirituality necessary for that to take place?

“You should be able to spot them by how they deal with others.”

As you said previously, you really can’t spot people that way. There are christians who are jerks and atheists that are the nicest people you’ll ever meet and vice versa. How we socialize with others often says little about what we really believe (or don’t believe). It says much more about the way we were raised.

I can see here that you don’t understand where non-believers are coming from. Religion is a non-issue. We generally live happy, productive lives, and don’t waste time or energy or money on institutions that teach indefensible dogma. Life is better this way, IMO. What does religion do to help the world? What are the benefits? You’re trying to sell us something without telling us why we should buy.

Besides this, there is simply no evidence whatsoever for the existence of any gods — or anything supernatural, in fact. If God exists and interacts with our universe as Christians claim he does, science should be able to detect something. Tests have been designed, for example, to judge whether people who are prayed for when in the hospital have a better chance of recovery than those who are not prayed for, and guess what — there is no statistical difference.

I’m a skeptic first. I believe in logic and evidence. Until you have that on your side, I am not sold. And the things that Christians claim to be evidence — ie, personal experiences, anecdotes, and emotions — are not evidence. They are proven to be wholly unreliable.

So you tell me. Why should I, or any atheist, do a U-turn, other than the fact that you think you’re right?