I find it mildly amusing to spot the trolls that pose questions that require you to posit a Gawd in order to discuss the ostensible premise....like sniffing out Russian trolls on FB before the elections.

it's up to them

Oh hell no..Fb is overwhelmed with them..can't an atheist get safe place?..after they have their Churches..

Hang believers... Burn them at the stake!

as long as they know what they're getting into.

Just one guy's opinion here Draco, but I think we have to at least listen to 'believers' as there are one heck of a lot of them out there. But yeah - if their goal is to do missionary work or something in attempt to bring us back into the fold, then that is going to be problematic, and quickly.

It's something that I hope not to see here.

Although most theists drive me insane, I believe it is wrong to deny them the right to be here. I feel that, as members, if our feathers are so easily ruffled that we cannot be open to honest, logical discourse regarding our beliefs, then clearly we must not put a lot of stock in what we believe. It helps to give you a healthy practice of understanding your belief system and learning how to better defend it. To me, that only serves to make My beliefs even stronger and more steadfast.

From everybody's comments I think the answer most of us could agree to is" as long as you keep it to yourself and don't bring it up in conversation". Now weather or not they could actually do that is a entirely different story.

They haven't bothered me yet. Maybe they want to secretly explore the real world.

Althought I would think they would not wish to be here simply because we wouldn't be their cup o' tea, to put it gingerly, in all honesty, if we cannot stand up to their arguments, what good are our beliefs (or lack thereof) to begin with?

A strong or hard atheist is a believer. believes that god/gods do not exist. of course as agnostics we know that such things cannot be known. so sure, let everybody in. we'll show them what they don't know. simple really unless you think about it.

If I understand the theism recipe correctly the must goal is to make us "not a people ". So, their goal, is to cause us to be disgruntled with organizing, trying to find each other, and enjoying our time on the site. I suggest that could appear in difficult to detect ways. Oversight with authority to exclude certain posts and posters a must.

As long as they come to try to understand and not to impress their beliefs onto everyone else, I don't mind. They would have to follow the rules and probably be monitored more tightly so I'd leave that up to those who hold the power to decide if they want to scrutinize everyone that equally and carefully or not.

They should have a short leash.

If they are willing to argue the evidence and change their position when shown wrong, they'll soon be non believers too.

If they act like tossers, sound like broken records, or are impervious to reason they need to go.

Much as I love a good fight, it would like throwing them to the lions

Good idea, an open forum. They will add some gutz to a very entertaining subject.

Don't mind, it's fun to mock them with facts/truths...

I see a lot of people mentioning simply not wanting to engage with, argue with, or debate with believers.

We learned in parenting class to ignore unwanted behaviors and they will go away. I assume it works for people to, right?

For this site to be exclusive based on belief is simply not practical. For example, anybody Could sign up as an agnostic and then slowly reveal themselves to be a believer.

This is a very valuable site (which was was so badly needed) and I would like it to remain open to ALL -- okay, okay, I admit to hoping that some believers will learn something -- even if it is just that non-believers are normal people.

I am a big fan of the block button and will use it for anybody who is annoying, overly argumentative, proselytizing, or being intentionally rude and mean-spirited. Easy peazy lemon squeezy.

It depends on if the person in question is rational or not. It's a good thing to help others through their cognitive dissonance. Like John Lennon said - Imagine.

Not altogether that great. Beliefs, by their very nature, create defenses that prevent them from being challenged. That's why they exist. We "believe" in the absence of data and facts. For example, I don't "believe" that the earth is round, I don't "believe' that the earth orbits the sun, I don't "believe" that the sun rises and sets every day. I don't have to. These things happen regardless of my belief.

We "believe" in things that we cannot prove or that there is no evidence for... which is why we "believe" in God. Which is why I find having discussions with "believers" difficult. How do you prove the "absence" of Santa? How do you "prove he absence of 'god'?"

Believers will come, but only because they NEED us to believe too, or their beliefs will be challenged. There can be no conversation with that.

I can't think of a single good reason for a Christian or any other religionist to want to belong to a club for atheists and agnostics, etc. A comparison could be a nudist wanting to join a burka group.

As the little lady, new to me on YouTube, says, "I ain't doin it." (If you haven't seen this site, just go to your browser and type in, I ain't doin it. It's a hoot!)

I tend to agree with you Draco. It is rare to have an intelligent conversation with a "theist"(not that they are unintelligent). It's similar to politics which often times is just another belief system. In my experience more often than not, a simple thread of thought, can escalate and become a verbal war.
I don't know about the rest of you, but blood my pressure doesn't need that kind of stimulation. Someone mentioned "echo chamber" which, by the way is a valid point, and I don't want that either. I think it is like oil and water; they just don't mix well.

They can join but they will never convince me to believe a book that some uneducated man wrote.

Oh MY!! Well this should be fun. First, if they come to understand the reality of religion, god or higher being and ask serious questions I welcome them. There are no dumb questions. If they come to try and convince people on this site of their view or they come to condemn and damn then they are in the wrong forum and need to be block from the site. Pretty simple. IMO