What hard intellectual work is there in Atheism that we should aspire to it?

Not hard at all. There is no God.

A lack of evidence supporting something, serves as evidence against it, permitting that there has been sufficient effort to find supporting evidence. Therefor, it is most likely that no god exists. You can also look at the state of the world and the fact that life was made so difficultly and say that no theistic god would create such an entity. As for a deistic god, there can be no evidence for or against it. It's as if you were to say that you had a person next to you, but they could not be identified in any way and they would not make themselves known in any way.

If someone were to say that the evidence for a god is that the universe could not have come into existence without one, they should realize that, disregarding the obvious argument of, "where did the god come from?", one must know that a lack of evidence explaining a situation does not provide evidence to the contrary, only that we have not made the necessary observations and canalization's to fully explain it.

Atheism isn't even a big deal. In a survey done, most people in America would trust a child molester over a Atheist, which is kind of sad that people feel so threatened by someone who simply doesn't have a belief system. Atheists are ordinary people living ordinary lives. Remember, Christians can be dangerous too...Just because you have a list of morals doesn't mean you follow them. In my college ethics class we discovered most people do what is good. And the definition of good is doing whatever causes human flourishing and minimizes pain and suffering. Any intellectual can come to that conclusion weather they are atheist or not.

You do have a point, but on the other hand, how hard is it to have blind faith? Or not bother to research and outright deny obvious facts and logic placed before you? Both sides are guilty of this; as an Atheist myself, I admit.

I believe that both Theists and Atheists have put equal time and intellectual efforts into proving their respective points. Any bookstore's religion and philosophy section reveals hundreds of books "proving" either the existence or impossibility of God. I respect the authors on both sides who have poured their intelligence, hearts, and souls into their work but it does not change the fact that still nobody wins in the end.

It all comes down to whether you'd rather have faith in something or faith in nothing. Intelligence is no matter.

That is extremely hard, apparently .

Most of the human race flunk that task and have for millennial--haven't they?..

And just look at what it's cost them.

But, if you grow up enough to prefer reality space-time to made-up fantasies reported by power-hungry liars, frauds, pretenders, psychotics and genuinely anti-worldly advocates of monastic selflessness, your job then is still merely beginning.

Then you have to master realism, the use and creation of genuine categorizing definitions of scientific verifiable worth and furthermore be honest enough to know when you really know something and when you don't.

if you succeed in becoming an honest self, you then need to apply your educated method of thinking to mastering a number of subject areas of thinking--and finally spend the rest of your life living among people who are neither honest nor profound thinkers, nor willing to leave others alone instead of insisting they adopt their own postmodernistic failed way of functioning;l nor willing to go into monasteries and actually practice the totalitarian Lutheranic-Kantian ideas they preach.

You call that "easy"?

I've done it for nearly six decades. Better than anyone else has ever done it, let's assume. And I can testify--it's not easy.

And the better you do it--believe it, the harder it gets.

Thanks for asking.

Is it not just as easy to say, " I believe"?

Its not about just a lack of belief. Its a belief that religion is wrong based on facts and evidence. Belief in religion is based on nothing more than ancient texts, with no evidence except that to the contrary. It is pure and simple common sense in my opinion.

The only intellectual work that is done is the work it takes to refute arguments for religion. Gathering the facts and preparing arguments, using logic, etc. A smart atheist in an atheist who is an astute student of the history of religion, if that makes any sense. They do their homework, in other words.

What hard intellectual work is there in Theism that we should aspire to it?

How hard CAN it be to say, "Oh I do believe that"?

The real issue is why you believe in anything you say.

science, physics, intellectualism, rational thought - and all the qualities that would make a person useful on this planet.

is there any intellectual work involved, at all, in xtianity?

The intellect comes from learning about Science, Reason and Logic and using those to make that determination. The lack of intelligence resides in religion and faith.

The Work of Science.

How easy is it to say that you believe in some imaginary guy in the sky!?