This question is for the Atheists that want to intelligently answer this question in a respectful and honest?

Although I am technically not atheist, I am also not a Christian, so I believe this question would still apply to me.

I have actually studied both the Tanach and the Christian New Testament fairly extensively from a socio-cultural and historical perspective. I find religion and tradition fascinating. That being said, when you read and learn about world religions within their social and historical contexts, it is hard to subscribe to their dogmas, since the human political interests in the various rules and traditions are readily apparent. If I want a relationship with a higher power, I am weary to use a path which I know has been shaped by years of political, for lack of a better word, gerrymandering. Not that I view religion as a bad thing, but organized religion is just not for me personally.

Although I am sure there are people who have converted to Christianity after reading something they liked, from my experience, my research into religion has lead to a greater respect and understanding for these traditions, but no personal belief in their validity as the "one" way to be.

Hi. I was raised as a Mormon, and left that church when I was 21. I then became a Fundamentalist Christian, studying the Bible daily, and attempting to learn Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek so that I could better understand the scriptures.

I have been an atheist for the last four years. The more I studied, the more I began to see the Bible as a collection of recorded mythology of the Semitic people living in the Middle East thousands of years ago. I also began to question Paul's version of Christianity, since it diverged so greatly from what Jesus taught, and the only thing giving any validity to his authority, was his own assurance that we should.

If that is the case, then we should also believe Joseph Smith, Mohammad, and David Koresh. In other words, just because someone says they speak for God, does not mean they actually do, and this applies to Paul as well as anyone else.

There are things I admire about Christianity, but I no longer view Yeshua ben Yosef as the incarnate form of the Semitic desert god Yahweh. I think he was just a wise and admirable man.

I started off Christian. Was for nearly 30 years.

Yes, there have been some things said that made me wish that it were true or do a little deeper soul-searching, but by-and-large, in ALL honesty, my experiences with the religion (with most religions for that matter) have and continue to be the exact opposite. I'd say 95% of the things I hear Christians say turn me off to the idea entirely. So often I hear the wickedness and decisiveness that religion puts into people's hearts and it saddens me.

From the secular debates about what constitutes a marriage to the judgements of other cultures and beliefs to the flat out lies (like when the Pope went to Africa and told the people that condoms CAUSE AIDS or all the fundamentalists who deny solid, empirical, independently confirmable scientific evidence just to hold on to their traditional beliefs)...I've come to find religions to be an intellectually and culturally stagnating force far more often than it is not.

Ironically, in many ways, it was researching Christianity and thinking about it TOO deeply that made me say "wait a minute. None of this really makes sense. And the parts that do, aren't special to Christianity, but are found in religious and legal systems all over the world." And once you realize even deeper things like the fact that the Canaanites, a major enemy of the Jews who enslaved them for a while, had a major female deity in their pantheon symbolized by a tree of knowledge and an ambassador who sometimes took the form of a talking snake...then mysteriously the Jews came up with a story about how an evil talking snake tricking the weak, foolish woman into eating fruit from a forbidden tree of knowledge that condemned, not enlightened all mankind...well, you realize that the story in Genesis wasn't passed down from god, but an attack on and attempt to pervert the beliefs of their enemies. It was primitive psychological warfare.

Would a happy afterlife of peace and family reunions be lovely? Sure. But there is no evidence for it and the dangers of religion on earth are quite manifest.

It was the opposite for me. I was very much a Christian, and then atheists were saying things that sparked my curiosity and caused me to research and question my own religion. And I'm an atheist now. Since then...I've continued to research about Christianity, but usually on my own motivation, and not because I'm doubting my lack of belief...only because I like being educated.

I'm agnostic, but I was nominally Christian for the first 60+ years of my life despite never really being able ot "feel" any sense of "god's" presence. I just never had the "gift" of faith. Finally decided there was no sense in believing in a supposed being that did not seem to believe in me.

You will find that most atheists were raised in religious households, to a greater or lesser degree, they already know christianity/bible better than many of the christians do.

It's going to take a really MAJOR argument to bring them back to religion. Like maybe proving that ANY "god" actually exists, step 1, and that that "god" is the "christian god", step 2. Gotta lot of work cut out for you there, I'm afraid.

Blessings on your Journey!

To make we want to become a Christian you'll need to supply some evidence that Christianity is true, so far no one has managed to do that.

Though Christianity has worth studying to some degree due to the unwarranted influence it has (and had in the past to a much greater degree) on society.

A few people who didn't really have any arguments for atheism and who couldn't think straight (e.g. C.S. Lewis) may have become Christians despite having been atheists at some time but cases of people who actually can think becoming Christians is rare.

No.

I was a christian for decades before I read the bible and realised it was all nonsense. They'd be hard pressed to find something to say I hadn't heard at least once before. After living as a christian for decades, reading the bible constantly, and studying it, I realised none of it made sense, and that the god of the bible was a sick monster. My curiosity is thoroughly satisfied.

The opposite actually. I was raised Christian and was a devout believer early in life. It was the things other Christians said, the doctrines of the church, etc that made me think about whether the things they said could possibly be right and true. And that eventually led to my atheism.

No. I come from a extensive Christian educational background. Most Christians haven't investigated outside was is claimed in the Bible or know of the history of early Christianity and the formation of the Bible cannon.

I usually explain more to them about their faith, and why I've reasoned it is a false religion.

I used to be a Christian so it's hard to answer this since I have an obvious interest in it as a result of my upbringing, but I have heard one or two claims that piqued my interest though. Unfortunately I actually research claims.