I think there's a power that exist in a herd mentality. Perhaps non-believers feel that's not in our best interest, and don't feel the need to conform.

I would say atheists are 100% sure there is no God, magic, religion, etc... Agnostics are more neutral on saying 100% sure.. Personally I would say I am 100% sure its not real. As there is no definition of it in the first place, not to mention a huge lack of any attempt at critical discussion in those places.

Thank you for posting this query. I really appreciate how reflective these threads can help us to be.

I'm fairly sure it isn't intelligence or creativity that sets up apart. I've met agnostics, atheists, and theists who range from brilliant to daft. It's amusing how everyone wonders why others don't get it.

Perhaps critical and analytical thinking come more readily to us, but it seems a more decisive factor is our skepticism and decreased capacity for belief, particularly belief in the absurd.

Contemplation and choices have been exponentially more influential to my worldview than circumstances.

It bugs me that it is generally considered acceptable for a theist to imply, or even gleefully outright state their desire to see me suffer for all eternity in hell. Yet is is often considered impolite or rude for me to express my worldview. I refuse to accept this dynamic because atheists and agnostics will remain misunderstood so long as the discourse is controlled by others.

Agnostics and atheists are some of the last minority groups without a voice, without representation, and for whom few outsiders would bother to defend. One of us could be nailed to a tree and literally branded heretic and it would not be considered a hate crime.

Only we can change this, with our words and with our minds. In the immortal words of Four-legged Man, "Let's make a difference!"

I think it is just harder for us to entertain "magical thinking". Critical thinking comes more naturally to us, as does reason. That is nto to say every atheist is better at critical thinking or reason than believers, but on a per capita basis, we are.

I also think believers are "lazy thinkers". They dont' want ot investigate or think for themselves, but want others to just provide the answers for hem.

There is also the question of "life purpose". Believers want it to be grand and divinely inspired. They liek the idea of belonging to or beign a part of such a plan. It makes them feel important without having to actually do any work or expend any real effort., which is also why many peopel hold prejudices... to feel good about themselves without actually doing anything in the way of improving themselves or expending any real effort.

TEligion tells peopel they are "special" just for believing. No real effort of any kind required.

We just understand "What's going On"

Makes ppl feel better about there death.......if there is a heaven and all is good and thats where u go when u die......they believe that cause fear death.....and also so the church can make money off of ppl that r willing 2 believe when they die the after life is better when ur daed ....something 2 look 4ward 2

There are many different reasons and every individual has their own reason or combination of reasons. I never gave religion too much thought when I was younger and attended church only infrequently. Later, when I actually read the bible, it didn't make any sense. I guess I feel like a book that can mean whatever you want it to, doesn't really mean anything.

I think that we are truth seekers and we have the courage to take ourselves wherever the truth leads us, even if it is against the accepted lies. We search for truth in all parts of our lives and religion is just one part where we happened to be labeled as something 'different'.

I have asked myself that last line many times. What I suspect holds true for the largest portion of us would be a combination of curiosity and defiance to authority when we see our experiences do not line up with what we are told will happen. So that leads us to question authority and often leads us to search for answers outside of authority.

For my own personal experience, I often think my dads habit of pointing to the book shelves when I had a question did far more damage to my faith than he could have ever imagined. However that's not really a matter education. I am way behind in education than so may believers. It has so much more to do with what questions I asked and learned the answers to. One question I asked my dad, probably around 5 or 6 years old, was "Where do the stars go during the day?" When he gave the basic answer that included mentioning the Sun was a star, my mind was fucking blown. That was probably the big turning point. We where just leaving the house on a 3 hour road trip. I kept asking questions to the point he got angry with me. When we got to my grandparents house he marched me straight into my grandfathers library and said "All your answers can be found in here".

They were both, well all my family was strongly religious, but not fundamentalists. Nobody was strongly tied to one specific denomination. They just thought that it was important to be a part of a church and to attend regularly.

I often wonder why so much of my family was religious, though we all had an interest in the sciences and access to the same books. I think even my grandfather was probably more passive on the subject than my mom, dad and grandmother.

There are plenty of theists who are intelligent and critical thinkers. In a 2012 Pew survey 63% of religiously unaffiliated voters say they are Democrats or lean toward the Democrats, while 26% identify with or lean toward the GOP. This pattern is especially pronounced among atheists and agnostics, atheist/agnostic 73% lean Democrat, 18% lean Republican. Now just speculating but of the 5 primary virtues in Political Moral Foundations Theory that are care, fairness, loyalty, authority, and sanctity, conservatives place about 10x more importance on loyalty, authority, and sanctity than progressives indicating those traits have much more influence on conservatives' beliefs than on progressives' beliefs. Enough to create several political differences so not a far stretch to also have some impact in religious beliefs.

The willingness to think outside the box and veer away from herd mentality are two things.

Could it be fair to say Agnostics are open to discussion where as Atheists are not?

I don't think intelligence has much to do with it.
I wasn't brought up in a religion but talked to so many that have, something that many have in common is that they began with the slightest of doubts in their beliefs.
It seems that once that small crack gets started, the whole thing begins to crumble, and they search even deeper for what they've been blind to their entire lives.

Agnostic > There 's probably no god but I don't want to rule it out completely.
Atheist > There is no god.
I read that wrong.
I think we have sorted out the cream from the crap.

Most of nonbelievers follow the same mind patterns of the believers.
Rejecting religions without applying scientific methods of experiencing reality is just another dogmatic brake in the wall.