Letters to the Editor
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Fetboy
What do I do to include other people into my atheism? Well, there's not a lot you can do.
Several years ago, when my sister confessed that the fear of hell was one of the things that kept her a Christian, I explained to her why I think the idea of hell is monstrously improbable and hideously immoral. I think I converted her for a little while, but eventually she went back to being a believer.
When I explicitly "came out" to my mother, I explained to her many of my rationales for not believing in God, but this was more in the way of helping her to understand where I'm coming from than an actual attempt to convert her.
Occasionally I have religious discussions with open-minded friends, which sometimes involve making the reasoned case against specific religious beliefs.
But even though atheism is a belief about the universe, it doesn't really lend itself much to collective efforts, mostly because atheists tend to be very individualistic people who don't much go in for group activities. We tend to congregate around our other interests - film, music, literature, etc. - rather than around our atheism.
Honestly, I think if it weren't for the perception of a threat posed by religious people, most atheists wouldn't spend a lot of time thinking about religion one way or another. They would view religion as just an occasionally interesting fairy tale that they don't have to take terribly seriously.