A few statements about common misunderstandings by theists:
"atheism is a religion"
Atheism means that one does not believe in god or gods, religious dogma. It means that one will not follow religious rules. It means that someone's morality is not based on religious teachings.
Atheism is not a religion because atheists do not believe in religions.
If atheism is a religion, then "not playing soccer" is a sport.
If atheism is a religion, then "off" is a TV-channel.
If atheism is a religion, then "not playing card games" is a hobby.
"But people need religion, don't they."
No they don't. Why should they. Being religious is not the default position in which we are born, as many theists say.
When we are born we learn. And if our parents are theist, we learn that theism is the way of life. But if not, we don't and that is perfectly ok.
If you don't have to follow some weird dogma and if you don't think there is a higher power that controls everything, then you feel very free and you know that if you did something it was really your work and worth the effort.
"How could all this be if there wasn't a creator?"
Why does everything need a purpose, an intelligence.
Who are we, to think that we are so important and so sacred that some intelligence had to make us?
Is it really so unbelievable that the world started by "accident" and that everything after that "accident" just evolved? We think in years, months, weeks, days, etc, and that makes it so difficult to understand how long evolution takes.
"Which bad thing did happen to you, that you left religion?"
It does not need a trauma to lose faith. It only needs logical and critical thinking. Maybe some people lost faith because after a bad experience they started thinking clear. But not all.
"You are only atheist because you want to sin!"
Atheists have a feeling for morality. They know well what is wrong and right. But there is no sin. If you do something bad, it was not a sin, it was just doing something bad, morally incorrect.
