I don't bother. Pissing against the wind just gets you wet.

I debate but prefer SE.
I ask hard questions when I am confronted with religion.
"I'll Pray for you" - -To Whom?--down a rabbit hole . . .

I do not do this to "convert" people.
I do it because religion has held sway in society unchallanged for two thousand years, and still holds the majority. This means that despite all efforts thus far a great many theists have never asked themselves nor been asked the hard questions which drove most atheists to question religion to begin with.
I feel obligated as a citizen of Earth to point out those hard questions as kindly and gently as possible, to attempt to make the believer ask some themselves.
Otherwise Religion gets to speak with an ampliphier into a hushed auditorium.
We Atheists are the hecklers in that audience.

I do not see this as a religious point at all, but a socio-political response.

Being an atheist has nothing to do with my desire to engage in debate.
It does, however, provide me with ample opportunities to do such.
I was born to argue.

I don't debate, because I don't know. I want to learn as much as I can. Therefore if someone wants to exchange ideas - I am willing to do that. The word debate suggests authority on a subject and when someone claims to have authoritative knowledge of a subject - that's when I am the most skeptical that they know what they are talking about.

I debate only to show that my disbelief is ok and that without belief I’m still a kind compassionate human.

I can be a mass debater

I don't go out of my way to debate people but I won't back down when a profoundly stupid statement is put out as absolute truth and I am so tired of the religious pointing to the Bible as "proof" NO it isnt, if that book is proof of Gods existence then the Harry Potter series is proof of wizards and witches playing ball games on broom sticks. The Bible is the declaration, but that doesnt prove a thing.

I debate every position I hold. It's either reaffirming or challenging to my outlook so helps me refine my thoughts.

I chose debater, only because the other option was non-debater the first sentence and the last sentence are two very different questions. One should know how to debate, but use it for defense.

When I was younger, I think I wore my atheism as a badge of defiance. Now that I'm older, I feel that it's a belief system that works for me, and that's all that matters.

Trying to debate a believer seems like a waste of effort. I think my more mellow approach allows me to connect better with people of faith. I even had a deep and abiding friendship with a stone cold Catholic for close to 15 years. I think we both slowly realized that even though we had no common ground on faith, we still liked each other a lot as people.

But you likewise also see theists going back and forth on their stance as well, right? So you could ask if being a theist requires you to be a debater.

Basically, I see it that there are some people who debate and argue, and there are people who hang back and observe everything. These people will be in both the atheist and the theist camps.

But atheists may seem loudest. Is that a natural tendency for atheists? Possibly, but it could be that the atheists feel the need to be a lot more vocal because the status quo favors the theist.

I am not on a crusade. I came to my position in my own way and they can too

I used to have that bone in my head that said I always had to be right (especially if I could show other people wrong). Maybe I'm just getting old but for a long time now I haven't cared enough to confront people. I'll kibbitz with info (often in the wisecracking sense) but I'd just as soon let other people spend their energy arguing rather than spending my own energy.

I really appreciate all of you responding to my post. I'm new to this app and I'm glad I can be myself. Thank you for all of your input. ?

You can’t reason a person out of beliefs that they didn’t arrive at by reason in the first place. Conversationally I like to stay away from the antagonism of the explicit stark dichotomy of religious/non-religious. Instead I deconstruct topics and take the conversation to places where I can find common ground(things we agree on). While I’m there I spread around as much logic and reason as I can in hopes that it will virally infect their thought process with logic and reason.

Debating anything is best when you know both sides of an arguement. Since we are a minority, I think it is important that we can speak eloquently on what it means to be an atheist/agnostic.

I've seen a couple people post the Ray Comfort Video "Every Atheist Needs to See This" making fun of Athiests and I have politely pointed out that most Athiests and even some christian evangalists find his arguements laughable.

I'm a debater, myself, but I always have been about many things. Being an atheist requires nothing you don't want it to. It's merely the dis-belief in a god or gods, period. You should have a reason in your mind why you have this stance, but you are not required to debate it with anyone else, theist or atheist!

Other than being boring conversation, the discussion always seems to boil down to:

Oh, that convines you? Why?
Oh, it just does.

Why does it not convince me?
I don’t know. It just doesn’t

I'm not a debater but wouldn't mind a crack at it. But I would be careful to not pick on a heavyweight first off, learn my craft, learn how to debate and not just shout my opinions at someone and get in touch with or check out Matt Dillahunty to get some tips

I cannot hold myself back, I just wade straight in, and on the subject of god, I remain, respectfully undeafeated.

I only debate with friends and family. And only if they can stay calm and rational.

I don't think it requires one to debate, but I personally am often attacked by theists who want to force their ideas on me and think that to be a good person you need to believe in a god. Not all theists are like that, but I do live in a very conservative state and grew up around very stubborn Christians, including some in my family. They believe I'm going to hell. I'd rather avoid that kind of conversation, but when I can't, I feel the need to at least try to tell my opponent that what they are saying will not change my beliefs and will do more harm than good. I would love it if they could learn to respect other's beliefs, even if they think they are wrong. It's not likely to happen, but that's not going to stop me from trying, both for my own sake and for the sake of other people with unconventional beliefs.

I feel no obligation or need to defend atheism or debate with theists. That said, if someone wants to respectfully discuss it, I'm happy to do so.

There are no rules to atheism, unwritten or otherwise.
Sanity is not a cult.

Take me as I am. I don't push you to explain your beliefs. Don't push me. We can get along wonderfully.