LH, talk to Jerry Rasmussen, he'll agree with you, as in "...atheism is a belief system too..." - er, hello, is anyone home?

The word "a" (it's Latin) added to the word "theism" gets us the complete absence of theism, therefore the complete absence of a belief in a deity system, therefore just about 180 degrees from where Jerry thinks he is.

People can be atheist because they are entirely ignorant of the existence of theism, as in new born babies before being got at by the brainwashing of the theists. People can be atheists by thinking beyond the theist brainwashing and letting the matter rest right there.

Those atheists who become anti-theist are those who oppose the theist movement and perhaps blame religious differences for most of the world's ills. Get it?

As for the attempt to belittle my point about the external effect of prayer by comparing it with inter-personal influence exerted by, inter alia, life assurance salesmen - er, do you really understand what is meant by prayer - do you really think it's comparable to smooth talking?

TK