In my experience, more often than not, atheists actively deny the existence of God, rather than merely lacking a belief one way or the other.
I think many people who describe themselves as athiests really mean that they are agnostic.. or uncertain about their position in religious matters. I've never known any atheists who claimed to have found definitive evidence of God's non-existence...
Usually this position is accompanied by a train of logic (or sometimes just emotion) about how bad things are in the world, and that obviously they can't be the work of the God Christians hold to be both infinitely powerful and infinitely good.
Personally, I'm a theist... and while I don't have all the particulars nailed down.. the universe in my mind still definitely exhibits intelligent contrivance. Whether that's by a good God, or an evil God, or a mad scientist, I'm not sure... but the idea that this universe came out of nothing definitely has to be the greatest wishful thinking of our time.
That's my two cents. No offense intended to anyone. Does that clear it up at all Derail?
