Reply #15: Even if that is granted...

[mdhunter]

remember that atheists are typically guided by scientific principles and standards.

So, strictly speaking it may be that many atheists are, in fact, agnostics. But, for them the difference becomes semantic because the probability of there actually being a god is so slim. It is almost disingenuous for these people then, and I'm one of them, to go around insisting they're agnostic when the chance that there is a god, for them, is infintessimally small. Simply accounting for that extremely small number isn't enough to burden oneself with purporting to be agnostic when you're scientifically an atheist.

I do however, grant your point that atheists convert everyday, though that question isn't particularly meaningful, I don't think. Included in the group of atheists who convert is the set of people who have never rigorously reflected on religion and god in their lives; a set of people often without much, if any, prior belief, who come to find god. That group is much less interesting, and I think less important, than the group of people who become atheists, for these people, by definition, have wrestled with the salient questions and rejected religion.

And, of course, this is no means an attack on any person of faith. Faith is an important part of many people's lives and can have a positive influence in the world. I do not think religion necessary, nor do I think it can be defended scientifically, but that does not a priori make it bad.