What I find particularly amusing (or distressing) in conversations about religion/atheism are those people who feel the need to strongly defend their position, vigorously, emotionally, and sometimes violently.

On one side, if God is real and all powerful, he couldn't possibly feel vulnerable or intimidated by people's arguments against him. A being that powerful shouldn't be insecure and his followers shouldn't feel the need to speak vociferously on his behalf--he is big enough to defend himself, if needed.

On the other side, if there is no God, why worry about it? If the poor, deceived believer is going to die and disintegrate into nothingness either way, why not feel secure enough in your beliefs to let them?

I think PT and I are saying the same thing here; people who are secure in their own beliefs don't feel the need to force them on others. They may (and probably do) want to share those beliefs with other people, because the beliefs are something important to them at a very deep level, but they don't get intimidated and feel threatened when someone disagrees.

That's what I like about the New Testament portrayal of Jesus and the most orthodox of Judeo-Christian beliefs about God; the permeating belief that God was so secure in himself that he gave his creation the ability to say, "I choose not to follow you."