You know, I think many Atheists are wanting something from Christians and many Christians are wanting something from Atheists: both are wanting the other to truly learn about, accept, and respect that the Atheist is happy with their worldview & that the Christian is happy with their worldview. There is this need for a deep acceptance if we are to come together and communicate. The people I most want to communicate with are those that are not there to try to change my mind or show me how blind I am, but who are there to try to understand me and to respect who I am and my worldview.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not meaning that we should accept someone and not care to learn about them... What I mean is we must make an effort to accept who someone is and with that have a desire to learn about them so that we are not misinformed about who they really are. When we don't try to learn about someone and instead only have this rejection or apathetic "acceptance" of them, we also carry these misconceptions and misinformation the person, which drives us even more apart...
And, as an Atheist, I am getting there very quickly with Christians. This is how I would say it. That there is no debate over certain facts with the Christian, that for many of them:
-A relationship with God(Christ) has changed the course of their life,
-attending church has changed the course of their life and their way of life,
-having the Bible as an ethical reference guide, being reminded of things from the pulpit on Sundays, and verbalizing these things through prayer here and there DOES reinforce their ethical choices and standards,
-being apart of church's charitable structure, which is huge and organized, reinforces their desire to give and reminds them outside of themselves about giving,
..to be continued..
