Each time I dialog with an atheist, I am brought to a fresh realization that atheists do believe in a God (when pushed past the big-bang)... Atheists appear to believe by blind faith :) in a god that is basically an impersonal "state-X" which they believe (again by blind faith) has many of the powers that the "personal" God of the Bible has, e.g.,

• having the power to bring the matter-energy of our Universe into being, and

• having the power to bring the laws of our Universe into being, and

• having the power to select for symmetrically and numerically aesthetic laws, and

• having the power to fine-tune the constants of the universe to enable a physically consistent Universe,

• having the power to fine-tune the constants of the universe to bring order out of chaos, and

• having the power to fine-tune the constants of the universe to enable life in the Universe,

• having the "telos-orientation" to implement these etc...

This impersonal god-of-atheism had to

• select from among an infinity of "forms" for families-of-equations that could be used to govern the universe,

• and by this, determine the specific forms of the families-of-equations that govern the universe,

• select an ensemble of these forms-of-equations that are capable of ensemble-integrity (coherence within the ensemble, i.e., non-inconsistency within the ensemble),

• select from among an infinity of initial boundary conditions for the equations,

• and thus determine the independent-constants that determine the specific members of the family-of-equations used to govern the universe, and

• do this in such a fashion that the selected ensemble of equations are capable of ensemble-integrity (coherence within the ensemble, i.e., non-inconsistency within the ensemble), and

• do this in such a fashion as to preserve symmetricity of form among the equations, and

• fine-tune the forms in the ensemble of equations to enable a physically consistent Universe etc, and also

• fine-tune specific independent constants for the equations to enable a physically consistent Universe, and

• fine-tune the constants of the universe to bring order out of chaos, and

• fine-tune the constants of the universe to enable life in the Universe,

• and do all this without having any mind, because otherwise I might be forced to become a Theist... :)

As an atheist, I was ultimately led to the conclusion that it is impossible for thinking people to not believe in God (either a theistic god, or theistic gods, or the impersonal-god "state-X" of atheism -- who is equivalent to the personal-God of the Bible, except without the 'mind' or the 'personhood'). I ultimately was brought to personal commitment and relationship with the God of the Bible, rather than to faith in the other options...

Belief that the magic-wands of time and random chance and natural selection can create information out of non-information... There appears to be a total non-comprehension among most atheists of the complexities involved and the incredible magnitude of information-content in our universe... even given a 10-20 billion year old universe... (the orders of magnitude of the information-content are vastly higher than the number of seconds in the 10-20 billion-year lifetime of our universe).

Another common misconception.

That if the God of the Bible exists, he is obligated to prove himself to atheists... and of course, that God has no choice in the matter, simply based on the atheist's demand that God prove Himself to the atheist... There appears to be no room permitted (by many atheists) for God to choose to reveal himself to those who sincerely seek him with a humble heart (as mentioned in the Bible)... and for God to choose to NOT reveal himself to those who do not seek him in sincerity and humility...

I know, and know of, many practical-atheists/agnostics who were challenged to seek the God of the Bible in sincerity and humility; they did so, and found Him (or rather, He made Himself real to them/ revealed Himself to them, as He promises in the Bible)...

That Christians have to check their brains at the door, to be, or to become Christians.

That there are no reputable Scientists or Engineers or Technologists who are commited Christians.

That there are no Philosophers or Deep-Thinkers who are commited Christians.

That the Bible absolutely teaches that the earth is 6000-10000 years old; and that all committed Christians are Young-Earthers, and have to believe that the earth is 6000-10000 years old.

That the Bible absolutely teaches that the occurrence of a Global Flood; and that all committed Christians are Global-Floodists and absolutely have to believe in the Young-Earth Flood Geology theories.

I have come across various combinations of these misconceptions among the various atheists I have dialoged with in the past.

If you happen to subscribe to any of these items above, feel free to email me for further dialog :)

Wishing you Peace and Love through Jesus Christ.