Recently, a high-school student contacted me about a project that she needed to do for school and she needed to ask an atheist a few questions. I was glad to help her out. I even asked a friend of mine to answer the questions from his viewpoint. Here are the questions with our answers:

1. Why don't atheists believe in a god ?

Answer: There's no scientific evidence of, or reason to believe in, a god. We just decided that after reading the bible and looking at the evidence, that it didn’t make sense.

2. How do you think the earth came into being?

Answer: The aftermath of a star exploding.

3. What made you decide to be an atheist?

Answer: It's most logical and we decided that there was no way that any God would be so cruel as to let some people suffer while others didn’t suffer because it was all part his plan. This just doesn’t make sense.

4. Do you believe in an afterlife?

Answer: No

5. Do you have any leaders (via atheism)?

Answer: In a political sense, no.

6. How do you feel about other religions?

Answer: My friend feels that all are deceitful in some way, some are dangerous, all are worth studying to learn how to deal with them. Personally, I try to respect all religions and a person’s decision to choose to be religious or not. But I sometimes don’t understand why some theists and atheists are so dogmatic. I say ‘live and let live’.

7. Do you think your own children should have a say in whether they are atheists or not?

Answer: Yes

8. Do you believe atheism is 'accurate' because it’s based on science? Please explain .

Answer: Yes. It's testable. We believe science explains the universe and how we came into being. Although I personally do not believe there is a god, I don’t think it can be proved or disproved. Hence, why I’m a skeptic and an agnostic atheist.

9. Do you think atheists could believe in a god?

Answer: If he showed up in front of me and did something amazing, sure. Very doubtful that will ever happen. Of course, then they wouldn’t be atheists any more. I’ve heard of Christians who were raised as atheists and converted to Christianity. I don’t know any personally, though.

10. What's the difference between an implicit atheist and an explicit atheist?

Answer: Explicit means clearly expressed or readily observable, implicit means implied or expressed indirectly. It has to do with how the person believes. An implicit atheist is someone who could become a theist at some point. Someone who is an explicit atheist outwardly refutes that god exists.

11. In the Buddhist religion, there is no 'God'. Would that be considered atheism?

Answer: Although considered a religion, it is more a philosophy that puts you on a path to spiritual enlightenment (we know there is much more to Buddhism than this).

12. Was atheism initially your choice?

Answer: My friend answered yes to this question. I, on the other hand, was not born into an atheist family. I was raised as a Christian but we hardly ever acted the part. We rarely went to church or prayed. As I got older, I gradually moved away from calling myself a Christian.

13. Are there different sects of atheism?

Answer: No. But there are different “types” of atheism. Implicit, Explicit, Spiritual, Agnostic atheism, and Fundamentalist atheism to name a few.

14. Do atheism have a community center?

Answer: No. Maybe planet Earth.

15. Is the 'ask an atheist day' considered a holiday?

Answer: No.

I will also end this by saying that I did tell her that each Atheist has their own viewpoint and story. We are just as varied as theists are. If you would like to comment and discuss these questions, please visit me in the forum.