UberKuh has an interesting post, listed in the Dec. 11th Carnival of the Godless, which lists various forms of “Atheistic Belief”, along with a brief explanantion and example. I found it interesting, myself.

He makes a point that jumped out at me.

Until one has attempted to understand why atheists are who they are, one’s biases and arguments for and against atheism must be said to be superficial and trite, and should not be taken seriously.

I’m not quite sure about some of the listings, though, like this one:

Incapable (Da2):
This type of atheist is aware that a deity is claimed to exist and is motivated to form an opinion about the truth of that claim, but is incapable of grasping what that claim entails. For example, a mentally challenged person who has been told about Jesus but is unable to grasp who Jesus claimed to be can be called an atheist with respect to belief in Jesus.

I’ve worked with children quite a bit. I know children as young as 3 who know who Jesus was, and who He claimed to be. Not fully, but quite enough to explain to someone else. Some, on the other hand, don’t – but there are some who do. I don’t know how well that one holds up. We’re talking about mentally retarded people in this instance – but children are usually the best comparison, there.

I’ll have to devote some time to examining them. Just thought I’d share.