On atheists and "disbelief"

From a response I made elsewhere to a charge about atheists and disbelief...

Most atheists I have known base their views on what theists claim about God or the supernatural. The fact that so many of these claims have been disproved or seriously disputed (Young Earth Creationism, cases of faith healing fraud, etc), along with examples of selfish, hateful, and judgmental behavior by people claiming to be following God, is a large factor in convincing them that there is nothing of substance to theism. In other words, a lot of it has to do with the bad advertising of theists. The fact that not everyone who believes in God makes outrageous claims or is morally repugnant is often overshadowed by the witness of the highly vocal and visible ones who do/are.

As for making belief (intellectual assent) the primary concern - it's overrated. People believe all sorts of stupid shit. If the Divine isn't a conscious part of your lived experience, all the beliefs in the world won't do jack. And many "atheists" have some awareness of the Divine, even if they don't comprehend/express it through the lens of a particular religion. To whit...

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery -- even if mixed with fear -- that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man...

-Albert Einstein