The original poster argues that there is “substantial evidence for a creator.” Such as? That the world is too complex? Bible quotes?

When the bible was written, the world was flat. The sun went around the earth. A woman’s period was “sickness.” Science has shown us the world is, indeed, round. That the earth does, in fact, orbit the sun. A woman’s period is simply a natural biological process. Moreover, take “demon possession.” Accounts of symptoms bear striking similarities to what scientists have proved to be epilepsy. (Science, by the way, means systematic study of they physical and natural world through observation and experiment.) Science has shown us many things. Yet there is much we do not understand. However, there has always been much we do not understand. Believers in god attribute the unknown to an unknown supernatural being. Atheists recognize that there are scientific facts not yet discovered or understood--but through observation and experiment (i.e. science) can be understood.

But if we look at more of the “substantial evidence” in the world, we need not look further than war, famine, poverty, violence, child abuse, rape, environmental destruction, greed, and so on… What is one of the fundamental reasons people have gone to war? Religion. How many people have died throughout history in the name of their god? (And if we’re looking back to the bible, how many people did god kill?) All major religions are “right.” They all claim to be worshiping a peaceful, loving god. Yet they kill. In god’s name.

Why? Is it all a “test of faith”? As long as you maintain faith in the face of loss of property, health, loved ones, life, and so on, you will be rewarded in an eternal afterlife? And if you choose not to believe in this so-called loving god of peace, he will cast you into the hell he created to send those people who don’t keep on loving and worshiping him? The bible has some nice philosophical (meaning “love of knowledge,” by the way) bits, such as being nice to one another and that sort of thing. But something to base your life around… or at least pick the good parts to base your life around… (Anyone stone their parents or sell their daughter into slavery lately?)

Truth is not absolute. Truth is very relative. think about it; if god or a creator was responsible for humanity and the universe, he must be pretty apathetic. Not hostile, or gentle, but indifferent. Given the assumption that (and all Christians claim this) he is all-good, then he is not because he does not intervene with his omnipotent powers to help his followers against the “wickedness” of the non believers. Look at it this way:
when the plague occurred in Europe during the 1300s people prayed and begged god for an end to their suffering, which they thought was attributed to his unexplainable wrath. After a third of the population was wiped out, a new dawn appeared for western civilization: the renaissance, along with humanistic approaches to solving life’s problems (i.e no longer praying to get better when your sick, instead take a medicine that has been proven, through SCIENCE to make you better). Once human centered affairs were put in front of the super-natural, progress exploded and more human centered approaches to politics and (eventually)ethics were created; like democracy and tolerance. This is opposed to the typical religious approach to things such as monarchies and bigomy (hatred and fear to those who are different from the established norm (example: how most American Christians treat gays and Muslims in this country).
By clinging to the idea that you are not responsible for your actions, and blaming them on the work of some supernatural evil force (yes, in order to believe in god one must also beleive in the devil; how else to explain all the “evil” in the world right?) you disregard your responsibility to be a truly good person (you are screwed either way, because if you do “good” things simply to please a higher power so that you will not become subjected to his wrath, then you are a victim to his will- not a true human being who is fully responsible for his/ her actions. Also, since god doesn’t manifest himself on a regular basis, a follower of organized religion does not think for him/herself, as that would go against the crowd’s will (which equals god’s will).

There is no absolute truth, only the ones people create for themselves in order to better understand the world around them. But if you impede or strike against other people’s paths to their truths, then you aren’t really that good of a person are you?

do not fear what is different, celebrate the similarities instead.

Truth is absolute. It is not based on what someone thinks or feels about something which is what these people are doing. They do not have any facts that can validate their personal atheistic beliefs. They are simply choosing to not believe there is a God, or Creator as you could call Him, despite the infinite amount of evidence that proves there is a Creator. Whatever claims these people have in an attempt to validate their atheism is completely invalidated when compared to the truth of everything. I have listened to both view points and have seen the evidence that there is a creator and the so-called evidence that there is not a creator. If anything, science (which word means knowledge) can only prove there has to be a creator of mankind. If one were a true scientist, one that studies facts honestly and purely, then they would have to come to the point that there is too much evidence to prove there is a creator. That is why I believe that these people are not true scientists because they believe whatever they want to believe rather than believing the truth. At some point they made a decision to not let themselves accept the evidence for what it really is and instead just keep lying to themselves. Apart from my own personal experiences with God, I have seen plenty of scientific resources that can easily invalidate any of these claims that attempt to validate atheism in any way. One of these resources, for example, is a film called The Case For A Creator by Lee Strobel. He is a former atheist that came to a believe in God after honestly studying the scientific evidence for the existence of a creator. I myself am a former agnostic that eventually came to a belief in God and later I became a Christian. But, my point in writing this is that I want people to know that there is substantial evidence for a creator and if you take the time to look at the evidence, if you are looking for some scientific evidence that is, then there are resources out there. You must remember that just because someone claims something and just because they say they have some evidence and they try to explain it, that does not mean that they are correct. Anyone can come up with evidence to justify their claims, but it does not mean that their evidence is actually really evidence when you actually look at it truthfully without an agenda.

The fool says in his heart there is no God. (Psalm 14.1)
There is a way which seems right to a man, but eventually it ends in death. (Proverbs 14.12)