Notes on Atheism #1
I've been both atheist and agnostic since 1993. I generally don't try to convert people because (a) it's annoying and (b) I don't want to undermine someone's source of hope and meaning. I remember when I lost faith in God, I first felt betrayed by the God that I had been believing in and then I realized that He probably didn't even exist. This was painful and I don't want to put someone through that kind of pain. On the other hand, once you get over the pain, you can still find hope and meaning independently.

And if religion is the search to feel at home in the universe, then atheists are more at home in it because they realize they will change and perish just as other living and non-living beings do. If, on the other hand, you believe in an afterlife, you are dividing yourself from the rest of the known universe because you are making yourself the only being exempt from extinction.

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts | Stephen's account of the history of the quote