Greetings. This is actually something of a test: I've only just joined, and there was some mistake regarding the image attached by the system to my last entry (which was also my first entry). I was given the graphic emblem of one of the other participants--a heraldic lion's head (addorsed, I think, is the obsolete term), and not the Tenniel illustration I wanted.

Anyway . . .

I am genuinely surprised to see many of you around this website making the same semantic/rhetorical error: you are writing about not believing in god. I would insist that this is wrong . . . atheists don't believe in ANY GODS.

Gods. Plural. If we have some common ground here, it must involve treating Jehovah, Zeus, Allah, Legba, Quetzlcoatl, Ahura Mazda, etc. as all equally mythological. [I'll not apologize for exempting Buddah; he was a real person . . . and he never claimed to be a god.]

Given the saturation of our culture by Judaic/Christian myth and imagery, it's easy for all of us to fall into the colloquial trap of describing atheism as the rejection of the prevailing mythos: with "God" at the apex of the pyramid. And given the exclusion of most other religions from our culture (a sort-of historical accident), it's extremely likely that the person you find yourself debating will be some sort of Christian. So, if you want to be prepared for a debate, you have to be aware of the absurdities and contradictions in the Bible.

But you also should remain aware of the overall problem: all religions are to some degree false, and all deities, demigods, demons, djinn and vampires are human inventions. And Faith isn't good enough.