Atheist?
The question of Atheist is very unclear and so it the question of Christian these days. The early Christians were branded as Atheists since they would not sacrifice to the State God. The term Atheist is used in a very casual way when what may be meant is perhaps Buddhist, not interested in Religion, a Deist and so on. The term Agnostic coined by T.H.Huxly is much more definite. It means one who does not believe without evidence.
An Agnostic would dismiss an Atheist who believed that there is no God without the evidence to back up this claim as being in a class as one who believed there was a God also without evidence.
One could be an Agnostic Christian, but hardly an Atheist Christian, yet there is a substantial movement of Atheists for Christ. One could believe in Christianity without believing that Jesus existed as one could be a Buddhist without believing that Buddah existed.
Since there is no evidence that either God or Jesus existed, the question of belief needs to be examined. Can one believe something that one does not beleive? Or is the correct term "wishful thinking" rather than belief? A traditional Christian prayer is "God help my unbelief". Doubt has always been a central part of the Christian faith.
Goering said that he was a Christian but did not believe in God or Christian values. Could he be? Surely it would be essential to believe in Christian values, yet they are in much the same category as God. No one seems to really know what they are and there is a great absence of agreement.
Keith