Atheists often gripe that those with faith are lacking in basic reasoning skills, why else would a person choose to believe in a "supernatural fantasy world". Atheists also claim that reason and faith are mutually exclusive: you can't possibly have one without the other. To an atheist a rationally minded person could not possibly hold the idea of a supernatural deity in their head and also be able to discuss scientific discoveries. They view faith as an impediment to reason, in a way they see the religious as purely ignorant, they lack basic knowledge about the way the world works because they have chosen to replace their critical thinking skills with magical thinking skills.
So how is it that there are many competent people running the world that can have these silly beliefs in fairies and bearded white men hanging out in heaven? First of all atheists are missing the mark when they claim reason and faith are incompatible. To an atheist the opposite of faith is reason, but to a religionist the opposite of faith is despair. From a religious persons perspective living life without faith in a higher power is an empty, depressing proposition that implies that the world is just a chaotic mess full of misery. That is why it's so difficult for a person of faith to imagine that atheists don't have some belief system, what a horrible proposition to live in a world governed by nothing. The truth is that atheists do have a belief system, they may not like to think of it as faith, but they certainly have a plausibility structure that governs their perspective of the world. The simplest way to define the atheist worldview is in Humanism; the belief in the inherent power of human reason. In a nutshell, atheists worship humanity, more on that later, first lets return to the faith versus reason argument.
The other major point atheists fail to grasp is that faith and reason can easily co-exist in a single person. Faith is not a set of blinders that one puts on and then simply ignores reality, rather faith is a way of living that involves humbling oneself to a higher power and unlocking inner love, compassion and peace. People become faithful the same way people become atheist: they are searching for meaning in their lives. Once they find this meaning, it serves as a vehicle for their daily actions, similar to a map used for navigation, it is a guide not a law or rulebook as atheists think. Faith in a power greater than oneself does not negate the ability to use reason to explain natural phenomena, but rather it allows one to see the beauty in such systems from a esoteric and mystical perspective, conceding that human beings are but one small animal within an infinite universe and cannot possibly hope to understand these mysteries using our mind. A scientist studying a bacteria can both test his hypothesis using the scientific method and also have a faith in a higher power that exists within the entire universe without losing his ability to do science.
Atheist derive their meaning from the world by relying on reason and what they view as the innate rationality of the world around them. Unfortunately, as even scientists have discovered, human beings are not rational animals. Study after study has shown that given the chance humans will behave irrationally over and over again. Just look at how bad humans are at making simple decisions concerning money. (Insert link) Atheists look to human achievement and progress as examples of the power of reason, but they are really just worshiping themselves, placing the ego above all else. Atheists look at people of faith and mock them because they think somehow that faith in a higher power is an admission of weakness, but it really is a source of strength. To have an abiding faith in the purpose of one's existence on earth and find meaning in everything that happens in the world is truly a satisfying experience that atheists crave. Atheists want to have meaning in their lives too, so they place their faith in human reason and rationality and are continually disappointed. Eventually atheists turned to science to be their savior; they look at the achievements of science and think "now here's some amazing human achievements I can hang my hat on. Look at what humans are capable of, we must be truly brilliant and god-like." Unfortunately for the atheists science is supremely flawed too, mainly because it is undertaken by the humans who are not rational machines but animals full of emotions and defects. Science is great at making cause and effect relationships, but fails miserably at explaining generalities. Add some complexity to a scientific system and it all falls apart: look how bad science is at predicting the weather or global climate. It relies on models made by the ultimate rational machine: the computer. Here is another piece of human tech that atheists can point to and claim is the apotheosis of human achievement: the computer. Alas, it is just a machine that reads 1's and 0's and is programmed by human minds and is useless at predicting or explaining complex systems like human behavior. Computers are the atheists saints. They worship tech in the hopes that it will someday explain the universe or spit out some perfectly unified theory about existence, but as Douglas Addams so eloquently showed us the answer to life, the universe, and everything is 42. Computers can only regurgitate whatever we place in them; if we don't have the answers in the code they are not going to output anything novel about existence.
Atheists truly just want the same thing that people of faith have; meaning in their lives and purpose. They choose to worship technology and humanity and are continually disappointed. Atheists are really treading in dangerous waters as they are placing human will and ego above all else. By relying only on their own self-will they are likely to fall prey to the fallacy of their own minds and give into to whatever whim they come up with. It is a selfish worldview that is devoid of the humility that is needed to promote love, compassion and tolerance. If one worships their self they will begin to view any idea they have as plausible and useful because after all, they think, I'm a human and I'm the best thing in the universe so far. This centrist, self-absorbed thinking is the opposite of what most people of faith believe in. Belief in a higher power is admitting that humans are not number one; we are special and have an eternal soul, but there is one greater than us that has all power and that is God. By living in humility, we begin to act selflessly and compassionately because we know that we are not in control or have power over the world.
-Continued in Part II-
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