Reasoning with Atheists

I have met many people who call themselves atheists. It's sort of an occupational hazard, as I am a skeptic by trade. 

When someone asks me, "How can you believe in God?" they usually mean, "How can you believe that there is an old man with a long, flowing beard and a big white robe sitting on the throne in heaven, deciding which child to save and which city to destroy?" I usually counter, "How can you disbelieve in God?" Before the inquirer assumes I also believe the Heavenly Father prefers Diet Coke, I hasten to add, "I am not sure what God looks like, but that is a separate question from whether there is an Ultimate." Said another way, I do not rely on anthropomorphic depictions of the deity to defend my faith.

It's a whole lot easier to believe in God than to disbelieve. God can easily be something far beyond our human capacity to comprehend. On what basis of fact can any thinking person possibly know that God does not and can not possibly exist? 

To be an atheist, one must believe without proof that there is no God. 

(H/TMichelle)