Stringslinger: "You don't believe in atheism because atheism is non-belief."

No-one 'believes' in 'Christianity' either. What people believe in, is a God who has a certain purpose with regards to us and who wants us to come to Him. These people are called Christians, meaning 'followers of Christ'.

Of course there isn't, as far as I am aware, a 'Christ-figure' for atheism (though Marx, Engels et al came close, it's not a kind of centralised 'belief system' - for want of a better word - in the way Christianity is). But atheists certainly do believe certain things. They believe there is no God, they believe (usually) there is no life after death, no heaven or hell. They generally take science - in all its branches - to be an explanation of not only the laws of the physical world, but also why we think and act the way we do. An extreme example of that is the Focus magazine (based in the UK, I think) that although it contains some good articles, is also replete with many articles trying to say that all our emotions and desires and human needs etc., stem simply from 'chemical imbalances' - as near a quasi-scientific religion as anyone could hope for (I don't have time to explain that remark fully at present, but will try and expand on it when I get a chance). I'm sure they believe lots of other things too, that not being an atheist, I'm not totally familiar with. If any atheist online there would like to come on to say what being an atheist means to them, it would make for an interesting discussion.

There is no 'insidious' movement within Christianity to make atheists look like fundamentalists - its clear some atheists anyway (and not necessarily those posting here, I mean in general) hold certain absolute beliefs and are not open to discussion on them any more than those tagged as being fundamentalist anything-elses. But that has already been mentioned by Joe.

Amos - mmmm. That's not really an answer is it? And I think I have already explained about religion and the much vaunted though over-rated 'comfort factor'. Any chance of a proper answer?   ;-)