i have also heard of and know quite a few people who have set out to prove that there is no god and that jesus isnt god who have, through all their resurch found out just how real god is...

mrs.nordlead - Lee Strobel is a great example of that very thing.

any of you have any actual evidence that God exists or does not exist?

No you dont, as none exists, otherwise the debate would be irrelevant

im an Atheist because what i have seen and what i know have led me to believe that there is almost certainly (note almost, as i cannot prove this) no God or Gods

 then when and how did "life" start?

That's not true, most atheists still hold the same values as many religious people. Besides religious values vary so much from religion to religion I would imagine that one exists for pretty much every potential set of values.

However, your arguement would work in saying that atheists do turn to atheism to think about issues without borders that could potentially be set by religion.

SciFiBoy - I've been to heaven before.

I've prayed for people for very specific things (supernatural healing from medically-certifiable broken bones) and had them heal instantaneously, with medical proof of their existence, and subsequent healing.

I've talked to God, and He's talked back to me, and told me very specific things to do that were far outside the realm of situational possibilities, with very incredible outcomes.

Let me ask you this question....If God told you to call a specific place restaurant 8,000 miles away from your home, and ask for your missing daughter...And she was there, would you consider that to be a random act of chance, or something a little bit more otherworldly?

The same works for alot of muslims too. Plus that thinking again would lead to...shoot what's that called, some term that refers to the idea that god fore-ordains who goes to heaven and hell before they are even born, was made up by the calvinists I think. But it goes down that same road, why doesn't go reveal himself to everyone? If he really wants you to be in his life he'll reveal himself to you. Does that mean god already decided he doesn't want me in his life? I spent the first twenty three years of my life studying religious faiths. I prayed for truth and found atheism, what does that say about god?

Everyone already knows what it's like to be an atheist, because you are all atheists towards some religion. Christians can look at muslims and say "Wow, they are way off base. Their scriptures are flawed, their life style is crazy, and they have nothing to base their beliefs on other than they 'feel allah' in their lives. They just don't get it". Which is how atheists see religious people. But most religious people never turn that sort of thinking in on themselves. They just "know", but they all "just know" even if they all contradict each other.

That being said, I agree with most of the religious people in here. I think the "New atheist" movement is rapidly moving towards a new fundamentalism. If you go down the check list they essentially have the same attitude as all the other fundamentalist religions.

Claims of moral superiority:Check.

Lack of Pluralism:Check

Us versus them mentality: Check

Broad sweeping generalizations about specific groups:Check

Feeling that the world would be better off if it consisted entirely of ones own group: Check

So hi to the new boss, same as the old boss.

Religion isn't the problem, ignorance, xenophobia, pride, hate, the lust for power, these are the problems of mankind. And they would exist with or without the belief of an invisible man. Atrocities have been committed in the name of god, they have been committed in the name of man, and they have been committed for no reason at all. At the end of the day people will find ways to justify their fears, and their greed and they don't need a religion to do it.

it's called a coincidence, it's not proof of anything

I Watch A Football Game On TV, I Ask The TV To Let My Team Score, Sure Enough They Do, Straight Away, Does That Mean That My TV Is A God?

Spacing helps, FYI.

Your referring to predestination. Yes, 5-point Calvinists believe in that, but the Muslim faith believed it much earlier in history than when the Calvinist movement started....Calvinism has been around for under 300 years, while Islam has been around for over 1,300.

As for the question of God revealing himself to everyone: We (Christians, at least) believe that God revealed himself to us through Jesus Christ. Of course, he got murdered for claiming that, and there are many people out there that love disproving that Jesus didn't even exist, despite the evidence to the contrary. Christians believe that the source of the issue of why God doesn't magically come out of the clouds has to do with our rejection of God, and the fact that God is bound by laws that we've rejected, and thrown in his face.

Otherwise, I agree with a lot of your later statements. Man is intrinsicly evil, and uses whatever he can for his own gain. The difference is that Christians, at least, seek to curb that evil and make the person better, by following the example of Christ - the perfect man. Few can argue that if everyone had the morality and value system of the NT Christ, the world would be a worse place.

Whats more likely, your team scoring once in a 90 minute game, or calling 1 restaurant out of millions, in another country even, and randomly finding your missing daughter in that restaurant?