Respect and love to my atheist and agnostic brothers and sisters. Why they come to religious forums?
Isn't it that they are searching for spirituality, religion and God. Maybe,deep inside, they want to believe, or maybe deep inside, they do believe
When I first came to the forum, I was very deeply involved in Communist ideology and I wanted to see how my ideas could survive in online debate against a range of opposing views, whether they be political, philosophical or religious. There was also the deeper reason that I had sympathies with State Atheism and the forcible elimination of religious beliefs but I wanted to be sure that I was right by spending time around religious people and trying to understand them better. In a sense, I was a "seeker" but probably not of the kind of truth most people had in mind.
In being here on religious forums, I have had to concede I was effectively wrong on both counts as my beliefs weren't as solid as I believed they were and there was no reason I could find to justify supporting the persecution of religious beliefs or believers simply for not adhering to an atheistic-materialist worldview. (Putting a name, a face or a story to a belief system by meeting people on here can really make a huge difference). Based on the amount of time I spent researching Marxism and Communism, I still think strongly along these lines even if I no longer accept their validity in all cases.
I don't believe in god, but I do believe in people. So, to the extent that spirituality and religious can be experienced by anyone as a set of profound process of emotional depth and reflection, I do take an interest in them and whether I can attain a certain level of knowledge and insight other religious may have to offer. There is much to learn to put it mildly and, for all it's short-comings, this is still the best place to try.