Why do believers think that not believing in a god is a choice?

They believe whatever their pulpit pounding masters tell them to believe.

For claiming to be a "rational" person that was a completely irrational question. You basically have said that you do not believe in God even though you have never given enough thought to the matter to make a choice or a decision. So rather that believing something because you have thought it out and because of personal experience you are saying that atheists believe what they do for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

You know..... somehow I believe you.

And then you say that others who have thought things through are "deluded". Interesting.

Edit: What part of the English language are you having trouble with? If you have indeed given it thought as you claim then you have chosen what you believe based on that thought. For most it is not too difficult a concept to grasp.

Oh and by the way, if I choose to ignore all of the evidence which you present then it would be impossible to prove your existence to anyone, let alone me.

OK got it. Instead of believing I exist I level up a bit and "know" I exist to the point where I don't need to verify myself to be what I already am. I don't get all the disturbance about it then. Why worry about it if it is? Once again such instability and insecurity trying to figure it all out when it already knows and is just playing the I don't know any better than the other guy game. It is not that we already know. We know that. It is actually the way we spend our time. And that we do the best we know how.

I personally do not believe that you can pick and choose what you want to believe. But it doesn't change the fact that it actually happens, people pick and choose what they want to believe, but that doesn't make it true.

According to the Bible definition faith is based on convincing evidence at Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 (Reference Bible )- it has a footnote that says "convincing evidence" - talks about evident realities that are not beheld . It's impossible to have faith without knowledge according to this scripture.

You choose to believe there is no God. Well I know there is a God. You choose to believe in evolution even though there is no evidence for it. There is how ever plenty of evidence of falsified evidence for missing links and other stuff. Don't tell me you don't choose what you believe. There is much evidence to prove the existence of God, many peoples testimonies of what God has done in their lives for one. Your right that you can't choose what is the truth, but you can choose to believe the truth or not.

I hope you've got the guts and are open minded enough to take a good long look into these web sites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qygy14tC3I

http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html

http://creation.com/refuting-evolution-2-index

http://www.evolutionvsgod.com/

http://www.icr.org/fossilization/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxVxS0z3aTk

I've got proof that God exists, and here's the logic…

If there truly is a Multiverse (an almost infinite number of other parallel universes according Quantum Math models of whatever) or this universe is almost infinite in size (billions of galaxies) then somewhere, in some universe in some other place or in this one there was a God, and if there arose a God, then that God would've immediately made himself the God of all the other universes, including our own, so…at first our universe didn't have one, until the other dimensional God took it over.

And also, if God is All Powerful, the even if God didn't exist, an all powerful God could wink himself in and out of existence at will, so maybe sometimes God winks out of existence and then winks in again every few thousand years or so. Maybe not-existing is a vacation to God.

Remind them of this then. Doubtless many won't want to hear it and won't listen but some might. Say something like this...

I can’t help what I believe anymore than you can, it’s up to you what you believe in. This thing about not believing in God, there are 2,780-odd gods, and if you’re a Christian you believe in one of them and you don't believe in all the others.

I don't believe in 2,870 suggested Gods. Christians don't believe in 2,869. We're both very atheist really. We have so much in common :)

In my opinion a person can choose what they believe to be true or not. It's as simple as me telling you that all birds have 3 feet. You don't believe it , you might research it to be positive in your beliefs and then choose not to believe it. I was raised in one faith . As an adult I read, went to different services, wondered if I really believed in God and in what light . After weighing it all out I chose to believe what I believe now. I could just as easily have chosen not to believe if I felt the evidence was compelling. It is about choices.And educating ourselves first and foremost.

It is because we have free will. Evidence is interpreted individually from knowledge and experiences. You get to choose what to place your trust in.

Like Atheists that have Zero proof to their claims? Yep!

ALL the history in the Bible has been confirmed facts from records found in neighboring countries! At least two for all! Plus all the records in Israel itself! And over 86% of the predictions in the Bible have happened and 100% facts!

There are places in the Bible that are still here today! Like Noah's Ark that is on top of a mountain in Turkey! Photos taken of it since the camera was invented, over 150 years ago! Measures the same as the Bible states, made from wood Not in that area! How do You think the ship got all the way to the near top of that mountain?

I believe it is because they have no reason to believe in God other than they do. If they don't need proof they believe no one does.