What is the hardest thing to understand about a person's decision that they are an ATHEIST?

Answer 1

That the simple decision to not follow the common belief in God has nothing to do with God or sin or opinions or any religion. It merely has to do with a lack of evidence and the inability to look past that.

This seems very hard for people to understand.

Answer 2

The hardest thing to understand, for most believers, is that atheists are not angry at God. They are not evil, terrible people with no sense of morality or human compassion. They are not irrational, and they are not "fools". They are not dogmatic, or certain in their beliefs. (Indeed, most atheists are identical to agnostics; they just use a different self-label.) Some atheists may be any of the above, but the overwhelming majority are not. It is easy to forget that we are just human beings weighing in on different sides of a difficult issue, and that arbitrarily vilifying one side or the other is pointless.

Perhaps the thing that the largest number of people have trouble understanding--or trouble accepting--is that most atheists reject God for no more special a reason than a lack of evidence. Theists want to believe that there is something more behind that explicit claim, that there is some secret psychological problem with atheists that causes them to not believe in God--but in truth, there simply isn't, anymore than there is some secret psychological problem with people who don't believe in ghosts. (Which is not to say that ghosts, or God, don't exist. Just that it is possible to disbelieve in either simply based on a lack of compelling evidence.) Atheists do not believe that God is "disproven", that it is impossible for him to exist, or that there is some sort of compelling evidence against God (beyond the lack of evidence for him). They simply, for the most part, withhold belief in God in lieu of evidence that satisfies them--very much like agnostics (which is why some use the term "agnostic atheist" for an agnostic who also isn't a theist).

For some reason, many theists I know find this idea intolerable, or just bizarre. But it's important to take a walk in someone else's shoes occasionally and remember that people who disagree with you usually have their own reasons for doing so, not the reasons you'd like them to have so that you can discredit them more easily (this is called a "straw man fallacy"). More importantly still, trying to see things from another's perspective encourages tolerance, understanding, and an open, respectful dialogue between all parties.

Answer 3

Nothing.

Atheism is easy to understand.

Most refuse to consider the basis for atheism, so pretend it is irrational. See the first two responders. It takes NO faith or effort to not believe in anything, and it is ridiculous to be agnostic for all things that can't be proven. Otherwise I would have to be agnostic for santa claus, easter bunny, Rah, Zeus, Horus, etc. etc.

Answer 4

That they can believe in nothing when you cannot prove it.

It is impossible to prove a negative. Try proving that Bigfoot does NOT exist. You can't do it. It's impossible. Does it mean Bigfoot DOES exist? No. But it's easier to prove that he does exist than to prove that he does not.

Atheists should at worst call themselves agnostic.

Answer 5

That it doesn't mean we sacrifice babies or want to burn down churches?

We don't have to be attacking the church all day, the two aren't connected.

Answer 6

Start here:
http://www.ex-atheist.com/from-skepticism-to-worship.html

Answer 7

It takes an even greater belief not to believe.

Answer 8

Why they have no Faith!