How sure are you that atheists don't "get" religion?

[BlueMTexpat]

32. No problem on my part with that.

There is such a fine line between the two terms that it's virtually a distinction without a difference.

I also come from a fairly extensive religious background, but found that even when I was very young and much more naive and susceptible I hated the arbitrary and theological distinctions that religions made among themselves in deciding who is "worthy" and who isn't. Also, as a female, I simply could not believe that I am the lesser being, which is what the majority of established religions teach, or that those who are not practitioners of the religion in which I was raised are forever damned. And what the heck does "damned" mean anyway? When I see the extremely wretched lives that too many here on earth live, including watching their loved ones starve, die or be tortured, I simply cannot imagine that a Hell after death could be worse. Many of those who are suffering are firm believers. If it helps them endure, fine. But I wonder what kind of sadistic Supreme Being would put them through it or why. To "test their faith" is a too-easy cop-out answer, IMO.

My hesitation to cross the line is based more on a "gut" feeling than on any logic. For me, the idea of God has always been more like the allegory of the blind men and the elephant, where each blind man describes the part of the elephant that he personally experiences and insists that is what the elephant is. In fact, the elephant is none of those, nor is it even the sum of those, it is something entirely outside the blind men's experience.

But the point about being atheists being well-informed is an excellent one. In my experience, non-Christians often have a better understanding about what Christianity should be than many Christians do and they are certainly better informed about Christianity's beliefs and tenets than most Christians are about Christianity, let alone any non-Christian religion.