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I always ask myself two questions about atheists:

1. What effort did he/she make to determine whether God exists?

2. Was there something that he/she wanted so badly and felt was so urgent and obviously right that, when the desire went unfulfilled, he/she conceived a violent hatred for the one Being of all beings who could and should (in their eyes) have fulfilled it?

“I always ask myself two questions about atheists:”

While you may be addressing this to Derbyshire, since I posted the article, I'll respond for myself. I am not an atheist. I don't think a belief in God and a belief in science(in this case evolution) are mutually exclusive. But science is all about finding all the variables and constants in a hypothesis and predicting, testing and verifying to come to a conclusion. One can't have a “because God said so” variable. The whole thing is because God said so. We can't be scientifically objective that way. We are inside the “experiment”. I don't have a problem with that.

Good questions.

However, you need to add a few layers. I will agree there’s nothing more annoying than an atheist that just won’t shut up about it. You don’t believe in god, we get it, just leave the rest of us alone, etc.

However, equally annoying is the other extreme, people who believe in god and won’t shut up about it. Yes we get it, you believe in god, you go to church...can you please leave me alone?

My point is that we shouldn’t deal in extremes. So instead of asking what effort he/she made to determine whether god exist, maybe you should ask if that question is even relevant to the person. I think one can have a long happy life not spending time pondering the existence of god. many see it as a waste of time in that it can never be proven. Many feel otherwise. No big deal.

As for your part 2, people who blame god for getting divorced, not getting into the college they wanted to, not being able to find their car keys, or the death of a loved one are just plain silly.

One thing I do know is that there is an almost unlimited supply of pain and suffering in the world. Some of those who suffer or live in abject poverty are guilty. Most aren’t. If god is concerned about this how does he show it? Beats me. Maybe you get all the suffering wiped clean in heaven and relax on fluffy pillows. grow wings...or if your a Muslim maybe you get 72 virgins. Who knows.

But why think about it? Nothing can be proven. So live your life, be happy, be sad, whatever...just mind your own business to the fullest extent possible.