In several books and numerous web comments, I have read atheists banging on about the non-existence of God. They show it is unlikely to impossible that God exists. They refute proofs of God's existence. They evidence that the world can be as it is without God. They explain why people might believe there is a God even though there isn't one. After a while, the obsessive harping on this theme becomes rather tiresome. It begs the question, who are we trying to convince?
If the answer is theists, we're completely missing the point. If the answer is atheists, we probably don't have to try that hard. Either way, there are more important things for atheists to do.
[Edit: an interesting counter to this argument can be found in The Pod Delusion ep. 103 (65m40s), Debating Religion (pt 2) by Richard Firth-Godbehere]
There is a stark asymmetry between theism and atheism. For the atheist, truth is a deal breaker. If you can't even rely on God being real, you can't rely on anything anybody says about God. If there is any possibility God is a fiction, it might seem the whole framework of religion collapses to a nonsense. Arguments about whether God exists are therefore essential to the construction of an atheist identity.
For the theist, this is not so. God's reality is taken on faith, and faith requires no proof. Obviously, many theists do make arguments for God, and most will at some time doubt their faith; nevertheless, the need for demonstrable truth is not a supporting pillar of religious identity, whereas for atheism it is the only pillar.
Richard Dawkins often points out that the term atheist is as laughable as the term a-fairy-ist. Were God in the same category as fairies, there would be no atheists. This highlights that atheism has meaning only whilst theism is so normal, and – crucially – atheism is predicated on one single idea: God is a myth.
Theism is not so simple. It comes entangled in the complex web of cultural values and practices which constitute a religion. Any individual may have a plethora of reasons for identifying with their faith, and chances are that evidence of God's existence is not one of them. Despite God being woven into every inch of religious fabric, I'd wager nobody signs up to a religion because they have actual proof God exists. God is a given. Theists either don't care about proof, or they suppress their desire for it; some perhaps kid themselves they have it.
Trying to prove God doesn't exist is tilting at windmills: atheists will obviously agree; theists will just get annoyed. Annoying theists is not helpful. It is that sort of behaviour which makes atheists come across as smug, reductive prigs.
There are many more useful things atheists can do with their time than make the same arguments again and again. Here are a few suggestions.
Let people know you are an atheist (just don't go on about the God thing)
It is harder to hold unfounded prejudices against a type of person if you are familiar with such people. The more common atheism is perceived to be, the more it will be valued and the less people will hold ignorant views like 'atheists are amoral'.
Stand up for science, freedom and equality
The main points of conflict between theists and atheists lie where religious values contradict scientific understanding or personal liberties. There are important battles which can be won, and increasingly are won, for these good causes.
Of course, a great many theists also consider science, freedom and equality to be important human ideals and do not hold with the authoritarian position of others (check out Ekklesia). When atheists share such values with them, it demonstrates that believers and non-believers alike can be passionately ethical people, and gives the lie to the notion that there is no morality without God (learn about Humanism.)
Campaign for secularism
Secularism means everyone having the freedom to practice any religion or none and to be treated equally by the law and public institutions. Governments should neither impose religious values, nor favour one religious group over another. Secularism is emphatically not about keeping religious viewpoints out of politics, but it is about ensuring those who hold a particular view are not given a privileged position because of it. (Support the National Secular Society.)
