Why do Atheists spend their time disproving God, instead of disproving the importance of religion?

Why would I try to disprove something that I believe doesn't exist?

I think you're basing this on the answers in R&S - Athiests don't actually spend their time trying to disprove God, they just don't believe. Most often, Athiests try to live good lives that are not faith-based, and don't worry about the existence of God until they're confronted.

You might have a tough time arguing for "character building traits religion provides to a society".

Most religions are based on the premise of some sort of "God." So if you can disprove God, you've already disproved the religion. Even if people generally feel that religion "provides character building traits," they don't want to acquiesce in outright fraud.

Besides, I DO spend most of my critical atheist time criticizing religion rather than the abstract concept of God. I know this is crazy, but I personally DON'T agree that religion "provides character building traits."

There are books that make an attempt at researching why people believe and whether it benefits or hurts mankind. Breaking the Spell by Daniel Dennet is one.

It's hard to overlook the way that religion harms society. The stem cell fight, preaching no condom use in Africa while they are riddled with Aids, fighting the HPV vaccine because they want to use it as a deterrent for pre marital sex. There are too many more to list.

While there are a few good traits to most religions, they are vastly outnumbered by the violent ones.

Good question. I really like this question. It's almost as if you are saying...If you tell I'm wrong, then you better prove you're right! Basically the person should be doing the reverse of what they are implying. I firmly believe some people lack the ability to increase their psychic abilities...a belief in a "higher power" simply means that you can manipulate your psychic energy and transcend the limitations of this material realm. It is the entering into altered states of consciousness and making contact with spiritual realms that we personally feel there is a "god". The knowledge and power received from the other realms is to aid us in the transformation of the physical world.

I don't try to disprove god because you can't disprove a negative. Instead I will address individual points as they come up and point out where the faith becomes blind and ignores reason or breaks that religion's internal continuity.

Comparing Socrates to God is a false comparison. God's first commandment is allegedly "believe in me, don't believe in anyone else." Socrates would never claim to be the father of philosophy, even if he did have a very high opinion of himself, whereas the religious claim God is the creator of THE UNIVERSE and refer to the Bible as the "word of God." No God, no Judeo-Christian tradition, if not no religion altogether.

We don't need religion to compel us to be good people--there are plenty of very good humanist reasons to live a just life. Plenty of charity organizations are secular--decent people are decent because they care about their fellow humans. Religion is not necessary...or true.

Actually I thought we were disproving the importance of religion. Atheists will always tell you that you can't disprove a negative, much like you can't disprove the existence of Santa.

Atheists are atheists because they do not believe God exists. Some of us take it a step further because we are tired and angry at what religion and belief in God is doing to our society and culture. Religion does not build character at all, it prevents it from growing.

Err... I don't try to disprove god at all. There is no way to prove something isn't real. It is up to the guy making the claim to provide the evidence.

And FYI: I am an atheist because there is no evidence.

I don't see what "character building traits" religion provides that people couldn't get from a secular authority or plain old common sense. Religion isn't necessary for morality. And the belief in God is often based on irrational and delusional thinking. I think people would be better off without such thinking.