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An atheist, as opposed to an agnostic, is one who after studying the case for the existence of a God, Goddess, or groups of such has come to the conclusion that none exist. I am such a person and I as the title of this article suggests am still curious about religion.

If I said that I knew everything there was to know about religion then I would be a liar and a fool, but I believe that I have enough information to make an informed personal choice as to the existence of God. There's a big difference between that and thinking I know there is no God. I can never truly know that there is no God and so further study seems the most logical process.

Generally speaking, those who believe in a particular God and follow a particular religious path be it Christian, Jewish or Islamic do so through a deep routed faith and as such do not need to question the scheme or look any further than their own faith's holy book; in many cases such investigation is not only considered unnecessary but also heartily discouraged.

Atheism is different from theism in the respect that it is based upon logic as opposed to faith - I am not about to enter into any debate about which is more important as I feel that would be a different article altogether - Suffice to say that I have personally chosen logic above faith. And logic always considers further investigation.

If a person is a Christian they may give slight lenience to other religious persuasions in light of today's prevalent political correctness. I remember the disproportionate coverage that Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam and Buddhism received compared the Christianity in RE lessons when I was at school. But that is indicative of how those other religions are perceived by an already made-up and faithful theistic mind.

The atheist however, if he / she is truly going to call themselves such, must look at all religions, not just those central ones given a half-hour soapbox in an RE lesson but the lesser known examples of such, to the Atheist these religions or myths are all just as important as any other.

Tao, Wicca, Satanism, Thelema, Egyptian Mythology, Greek Mythology, Norse Mythology, Mithraism, the list goes on

I cannot speak for any atheists other than myself but my short answer to the question "why are atheists so curious about religion?" would be

Because if we are to call ourselves Atheists, we have to understand the religions that we are denying; to understand them we have to study them and to study them a little curiosity is required.

Learn more about this author, Richie Caldicott.
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