Welcome to the asylum. Enjoy your stay.

Sorry about your dog. Had to do the same in August.
I'm still raw about it, and I'm still grieving her absence.

As far as "know-it-all" atheists, I guess you would probably categorize me as one of those.
I see no reason to change my position on there being no gods unless and until credible, verifiable evidence is presented to prove otherwise.
I'm also an anti-theist, and firmly believe that the religious indoctrination of children should be designated as a Class-A felony.

Whatever we as individuals believe is as varied as how many different gods that
have been created by men.
I have no use for the "middle ground" in this respect.
If anyone wants to say they don't know, that's fine, their choice.
If anyone wants to believe in gods, their choice.
However, those who choose to believe in gods have NO right to force their influence
on public policy. Ever.
Yet they insist that they do, and they spend an inordinate amount of their time and OUR money, forcing their beliefs on everyone else.

I no longer believe in "live and let live".
If that makes me a "know-it-all" atheist, and I irritate you or anyone else, I'm okay with that.
Really. No problem whatsoever.

Pushy people are annoying in general. It’s a personality trait that has nothing to do religion or atheism.

Arrogance and narcissism are not specific to any creed.

Annoying comes in all flavors.

And it is so unnecessary.

Sometimes religious and atheist alike can seem to have a problem with, "I don't know."

Atheism has nothing to do with "meaning of life" and only deals with one issue, the non-existence of god(s).

Well, that was refreshingly polarising, well done you .

My experience is that most people don’t even consider if they are ascribed an atheist or agnostic hat. They don’t give a shit. They are just getting on with their lives, regardless of those squabbling about whose dad is more important at the edges of society.

Hang around and we will do our best to irritate you even more.
"meaning of life"? Is there one ?
"spiritual paradigm" ????

It seems we all step out of one box, albeit a large one, and think there are no other boxes. The world is full of boxes and all of us (including myself) are often trapped inside some box(s). One cannot know everything and be right all the time. A lot of time a dose of humility is needed.

"I have come to find "know it all" atheists to be nearly as wrong"

nearly as wrong? wrong by degree about what? use of tactics or premise?

how do you aggressively believe? belief is a state, not an action. you seem to be describing how folks interact with others based on their beliefs. to me you either believe it or you don't. you can, i suppose have a degree of belief, or it can waffle, but that is not what you describe. no belief is aggressive.

i am reasonably sure some agnostics and theists, find my points of view untenable. (hell i believe i have been blocked by some atheists.) i am absolutely sure many of them find me irritating. not nearly as many times as i have been irritated by the faithful, as i am not published. nor do i have or want a public platform to spew my thoughts. here is fine as i react. i am unmoved by the "victims" of my rants. bring the bible to a climate debate and cite it as fact? the public want and call for higher education to be eliminated because it is too liberal, doesn't fit with your christian world view? don't vaccinate your kids because that is god's job? don't teach evolution in schools? outrage is the most appropriate response.

in this very post you intimate that you are annoyed by know it alls and you prescribe me to point my kids to nature? for meaning of life? you think this is going to garner a pearl? my thoughts are that if i dwell on it, it'll just be another irritant.

In my years of study, I was open to all possibilities. I have also followed the evidence that I gathered, and became an atheist. I am not a "know it all" atheist, though. I admit the possibility that there is evidence I have missed in my search for truth. When I get into a conversation with people who are not atheists, I ask for their evidence. So far, nobody has offered any evidence that has changed my mind. So, until such evidence comes to my attention, I remain an atheist.

Yup. Studies show that Christianity mostly makes people more intolerant of those who are different, but I do like Thai Buddhism, with its acceptance of a Third Gender, and seeing all life as one energy, which it is. I like many/most Native American beliefs as well, except that I see the "spirit animals" as extensions of our own energy, not separate Deities.

I guess everything happens to various degrees. some of those atheists are worse than a lot of Christians ive run into.

As irritating as your know it all post?

"Know it all" types come from all backgrounds and are always irritating. I am an existentialist. The meaning of life for me is happiness in everyday real life experiences as best we can in our current circumstances. Find it, preserve it, appreciate it. Other efforts to find additional meaning are interesting but futile. That is my view and I don't really care if others believe it. They can believe whatever makes them happy as long as they don't harm others.

Good post, and you’ve apparently hit some sensitive nerves.

Becoming a atheist is the end result of my search for the meaning of life.

Yeah, there are some atheists who act like atheism is a religion and like to act all smug and superior in their beliefs.

When I studied alcoholism and addiction, it was not uncommon for a person to maintain the same dysfunctional behaviors in sobriety that they developed in order to sustain their addiction. They are generally referred to as "A dry drunk".

I dont' know what you call it when an person who loses faith and becomes an atheist defends his/her beliefs with all the ferver of a religious fanatic. I do think it can be just as annoying though.

Congratulations??

I agree. I have known many atheists that make a religion out of non- religion. The difference is that atheists should know better than to force their views on others. Its a case of ghe pot calling the kettle black.

I've never met an Atheist that I didn't like!

There's the good and the bad everywhere. Simple!!!

Please forgive me if I sound critical here. Would it not be better to teach children simply to think and explore all things while being careful to dicern fact from fiction.
I see no reason to encourage any particular spiritual things or to point them in the direction of "nature"(I must admit I do not know what is implied by that).

I was careful not to influence my childern to do anything but analyse things for themselves using good research and discovering the facts. No god, nature or spirits required.
As far as the meaning of life, I have taught them that that it is their job to decide what is meaningful and to do whatever that is.

Atheists mostly just commit the sin of being direct. I seldom encounter one who claims to "know it all".

Besides, agnostics who fancy their not making unwarranted knowledge claims makes them "above it all" can be pretty annoying, too.

Agnosticism about gods is just a function of their non-falsifiability. It is no big deal.

Atheism is just a function of not forming beliefs about things that are non-falsifiable. It is no big deal.

Life is much bigger than the fundamentally silly question of whether gods are real.