When you don't believe, what else is there to know? I did enjoy Hitchens because of his humor when I would see him on TV or postings here.

Some times we all just need to know we have a community that is of similar nature. Atheist authors may not change my mind but they offer proof that I am not alone in my thoughts and provide a sense of of shared experiences with other atheists including atheists that I know in my local community.

Also, sometimes when I am talking to a theist their arguments are more compelling than my own. Makes it easier to talk to them if I have a more robust stance. Often, it is of no fault of their own that they are believers of falsehoods. They are not given any opportunity to think otherwise.

Also, I seek knowledge. I read a fair amount of religious text too.

A lot, have you read Krauss?

Let me see now I'll pick a random statement, " false information is worse than ignorance because of blinds true definition"

I have found that some of the most poetic musings of how we could (and maybe should) see the earth, the cosmos, society, and the way we should treat people, since we are interconnected, have come from the academic authors who have found a way to apply the science of the day to philosophical thought and wish to share it with us common folk.

Those who ponder the big questions, have done a lot of research, and offer hints of how they think, not telling folks how to think, mind you, but sharing their own conclusions on the mysteries of life. Those are the authors that enrich my spirit. (My non-supernatural spirit, that is, haha!)

I read them for a different perspective. I became an atheist when I was 24, and at 65 I have a different world view than when I was 24. I also live in an area that while very technological is also very conservative and backward. I'm not looking for new truths but a different way of coming at an argument.

i do not seek out atheist authors, or avoid them. i read what interests me and i don't care whether the author is an atheist. i don't particularly seek out books ABOUT atheism. i learned a lot from carl sagan and i happen to know he was an atheist, but what i learned from him had nothing to do with religion or lack thereof. i'm not that interested in so-called holy writings, and i never did rebel against religion per se -- i suspect mostly because i have never been christian. i just stopped believing in any gods is all. it wasn't something i felt i needed to back up with someone else's belief or nonbelief. once in a while i see something pithy someone wrote about gods. i can appreciate that. it's not a huge part of my life. i am more interested in separation of church and state, and separation of myself from people who want to pray for me lol

g

I like to learn about the many discrepancies in the various "holy" writings. I never realized there were different accounts of the resurrection in the different books in the bible. You'd think the most important story in the bible (the one that actually sets Jesus apart from every human on earth) would be the same throughout the new testament.

The premises presented by most churches are obviously based on myth, allegory, imagination and outright lies. Once a person clearly understands that, reading about that fact over and over is boring and unproductive.

Rather than be a party to a negative campaign against religion, I’d much prefer to read about science, spirituality, the arts—positive and uplifting things.

Hitchens has pointed out where I was occasionally accepting religious premises without much thought or skepticism, simply because it was floated as true and accepted into the culture around me. I was astonished to discover just a couple years ago that Moses is widely considered legendary (and has been considered legendary for a very long time). I've been an atheist for 25-30 years, and it never occurred to me to even consider Moses himself was entirely fictional.

I really do not need anyone else to tell me anything about me.