Ask Questions; Don't Declare Atheism Right Away! When asked if I'm atheist, I ask what that means. When the def. is given, I ask, "What is God" When told that God created the world, I reply, "Well, that's what it supposedly did, but an action is not a def. What was God before it created everything? And so on...The questioner eventually realizes that he/she doesn't really understand what they believe in.
Declaring Atheism right away may give us a sense of belonging to a group/movement - a satisfactory feeling like the religious have - but it may be ineffective in getting the religious to question themselves.