Atheism is the belief that there is no god or higher power which rules the Earth. Atheism does not deny spirituality, nor the supernatural. Atheists are not Satanists, as Satanism presupposes the Christian belief in Satan. Many Atheists tend to believe that a person lives their life and then dies, and that there is nothing else beyond this. Some atheists believe in reincarnation, ghosts, poltergeists, magic, witchcraft, etc. without asserting that these are somehow bizarre entities or rituals that hint at insanity. Most atheists prefer to be left alone about religion, because they have none, and being told that they are going to be damned for eternity is annoying to them. Atheists are not inherently evil, as is often thought by some members of society. In fact, most Atheists believe in the same social norms as the society in which they live. To be a good person and to be fair, just, and kind to others is not necessarily a characteristic restricted to those who believe in a set of Commandments. To most Atheists, the Golden Rule is common sense.
Joshua Daniel Hostetler (1975-, Richmond, VA) uses a logical argument as proof against the existence of the commonly accepted Judaeo-Christian deity. He calls this argument Omniscience = Impotence Theory. Though he is an atheist, he does not believe that it is his right to make people believe like him. He simply desires to educate people on certain logical facts about Christianity that he sees as a cause for much disagreement and strife. Omniscience = Impotence Theory follows:
By definition, the Judaeo-Christian God is Omniscient, that is, all knowing, and Omnipotent, that is, all powerful. A majority of American Christians view their God's omniscience as knowledge of all things past, present, and future. If God knows all things, including those things that are in the future, then He necessarily knows the actions He will take in the future. Therefore, He is powerless to change His mind as to what his will dictates. Because His prior knowledge of all things denies him this ability, this contradicts the definition that God is Both Omniscient AND Omnipotent. Therefore, the commonly regarded God of Judaeo-Christian tradition cannot exist under this definition.
This theory does not deny the existence of any higher power, just the specific deity mentioned in it. Many Christians have presented the counterargument that "God works in mysterious ways" to refute this proof. Of course, there is no logical argument to such a counter-argument, and so Mr. Hostetler and the Christians are at an impasse. This theory is Mr. Hostetler's original work, despite his awareness that others most likely have had the same thought in the past.
Another atheistic stance is akin to Han Solo's original view of the Force in Star Wars: A New Hope; "There's no mystical energy field that controls my destiny." Many atheists simply refuse to believe that any form of God controls their lives, seeing as it implies the nonexistence of free will. People simply don't accept that they might be controlled by a higher force.
Furthermore, there is no true substantiation behind the various gods. Never has anyone proved definitively that there is or is not a god, thus many people choose to not believe in any god. It is a simple matter of lack of evidence.