I actually prefer atheists to agnostics, and especially to dumb people who just don’t think or care. All the professed atheists I know at least have read the bible and wrestle with the question of the existence of God, the possibility of his presence on Earth in the form of Jesus Christ, etc... At some level, I sense they want to believe.
Yes. but I see them as agnostics.
Then you’ve never met a militant atheist.
If I were to tell the folks at SETI that I knew for certain that there was not only no intelligent life in the universe outside earth, but there was ABSOLUTELY no life at all anywhere in this vast universe outside Earth, they would ask me if I was the omniscient God, making a statement like that.
There is no difference with an atheist saying there is no God.
My reply would be:
“What, are you omniscient? If so, I guess that makes you a god. Ergo, there is a “god” (you) and atheism is an untenable position.”
You are dead on the money. The Scriptures report of many who would like to believe, but cannot. But, nearly everyone in the world thinks that the "will" to believe lies in the hands of each person, so they think that these folks are just being stubborn, willful, or rebellious.
They are that, but the Scriptures report that if you are able to trust Jesus Christ (as the Rescuer sent from the God of Heaven and Earth, the God of Israel), then you have been granted that belief, that faith. What Dawkins doesn't realize is that he, and all unbelievers, are being managed (at least heretofore) to remain in darkness until God grants them rescue.
This radically biblical message is not welcome by unbelievers, and often is denied by believers. The human species just likes to believe they are autonomous from their Creator.
Belief in God is in our DNA. We were created to worship Him. However, He has given each of us a free will. God gives us the choice to accept Him or reject Him.
For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Romans 1:19-21
The more an atheist thinks—any atheist—the closer he will come to realizing he is in fact an agnostic.
The more an agnostic informs his thinking with reliable data, the more he will realize that both logical and empirical evidence demonstrating the truth of God’s existence are greater than the opposing arguments.