This may have been asked already but why do non believers have to see, touch, taste or smell to believe in God

very true. there are some things in this universe that people cannot sense with their eyes, ears, etc. one must believe if they want to sense God. atheists fail to recognize this.

-a former atheist who converted to Christianity

They are scientific people, thus hard proof is needed. A book outlining what a great spiritual being did can hardly be called concrete proof. Are there signs of religion all around us? Sure. But there are just as many signs that there really is no such thing as any sort of God. It's your beliefs, only reversed. Atheists believe what they think is true, as most christians do, and are slightly off-put by any attempts to convince them of anything otherwise. Believing with your heart is not something you can make yourself do, you really have to feel it. And for some people they will never truely feel it because their mind controls them.

There are really two kinds of people: People who think with their head, and people who think with their heart. You happen to be a heart person, while atheists are head people. It's two conflicting views on life that will never really see eye to eye, sad as that may be.

They can't let themselves believe, and that's just the way they are.

If it is that alien to you I really don't understand why it bothers you what we believe. We don't believe in heaven or hell. We don't believe in god. So far as faith is concerned, we demand an end point at which those who have studied a subject closely and presented their work to their peers for assessment, which is found to be valid so far as the evidence they offer supporting their claims is concerned. Believing something for which there is nothing but anecdote, ancient scripture and a feeling in the heart - no, not for me, thanks. Glad it works for you though.

And why can't believers get the hang of the fact that the plural of atheist is ATHEISTS??

When you tell an intelligent person that there is an invisible man that lives in the clouds, grants wishes, and performs magic, they should laugh.

It is such a ludicrous idea, that it is delusional.

There are many reasons why:

Why is YOUR god real, but all of the other 2000 gods fake?

Who created your god?

Your bible is full of contradictions, lies, and impossibilities, how can you believe that?

On and on and on....

The same reason I don't believe in Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, of the Tooth Fairy.

When you reach about age 9, you start to realize that they are just myths and legends.

That is of course, unless you have been brainwashed.

the xian god is a tiny tiny blip on the radar of humanities religious history. There were many gods before him and will probably be many after. I do believe with my heart. And my heart won't allow me to believe in a big invisible bully. My heart wants me to live this life to the fullest. (Don't assume that means drugs, sex or drinking, I am married and completely clean.) My heart wants me to do right by others, not because I will go to an imaginary holding cell under ground, but because there life is just as short as mine, and I do not want to stop them from living it to the fullest that they are able.

Most of all, my heart wants me to use my brains as well.

When I see something as obviously false as the Christian religion, I have no choice but to not believe in it.

What you're asking of us is akin to saying, "Doesn't your heart want to believe in Santa Claus?"

And I'm not being facetious. That's quite literally how your typical atheist views this.

The Christian god does not exist. That's not my fault. I didn't kill him. And I don't have anything against him. He just doesn't exist. And he never has.

Unfortunately, being honest and admitting that, tends to draw quite a bit of hate from the believers.

I find that highly offensive, in fact. It disgusts me that people will hate nonbelievers, simply because they're honest about their nonbelief.

That is utterly repulsive, as is the entire Christian religion.

You are confused. Atheists don't believe in hell. We are not choosing hell over heaven. If we do not believe in the Bible, god, heaven, hell, Satan, the supernatural, spirits, ghosts, demons, angels, genies, fairies and elves...just what are we supposed to have faith in? That doesn't give us much to choose from. Faith is to believe in something that can't be proven. That makes no sense.

Maybe Atheists are not the ones saying that

They don't believe in God, Heaven or Hell

an Atheist has more faith then a christian believe it or not, Atheists believe out of nothing a huge explosion happened and all the beauty and complicity of the human body and animals just randomly happened and ended up perfect. don't know about you but that takes some strong faith, and the big bang is only a theory not prooven yet the believe what is the difference between a christian believing in God God's not proven,

Atheist don't believe in heaven or hell...so they are not choosing one over the other..if they chose hell over heaven wouldn't they be called satanic or something like that..It is a belief God gave us the choice and it is there's to make not for others to make for them..

There are any number or reasons that non-believers or non-followers do not believe. Tactile or scientific proof is probably the factor that matters the least to me. For me it is my perception of Christians (as well as other religions mind you) and their actions, past and present. I do not expect perfection, but neither do I expect hypocrisy or contradiction. I also tend to disagree in principle on the benevolence of their God and many of his acts.