1: Smarter? Not necessarily. More rational? Yes. Not believing in things without a good reason will do that for you. 2: Saying atheists believe in nothing is BS. We believe in EVERYTHING; everything that’s real, that is; everything for which there is actual, empirical evidence it exists. It’s YOU that believes in “nothing,” because the thing you believe in… isn’t really there. 3: I don’t read Reddit. Never have. 4: Mostly, we like to mock sanctimonious d-bags that want to make people that don’t believe in their particular brand of fairy tales have to live their lives as though the do, by making those fairy tales into laws. Also, people like you, Mr. Peretti: people that call us a-holes because we call you out on YOUR a-holish behavior. 5:Most atheists allow for the miniscule possibility that A god MIGHT exist, though there has never been any evidence for one, and the universe seems to work quite well without one. However, if one does exist, i guarantee you, that god bears absolutely NO resemblance to the Bronze Age figment you’re thinking of. 6:Atheism does a lot of things for you, but one thing it doesn’t do is inoculate you against being a dick. Neither does being a Christian, as you have so ably proven by writing your exceptionally spiteful article. 7: I’ll try and cope. 8: Lie to kids about little things, and when they figure it out, they might be less apt to trust you on the big things. Besides, there’s ways to let them in on the Great Santa Conspiracy and make it fun for them. 9: Instead of praising our imagination, we praise the people that actually did the work that made some aspect of our lives better or easier: You know, the family members, teachers, doctors, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, co-workers, neighbors, and yes, sometimes even ourselves. One of the nice things about having reality-based thinking is that you can actually take the credit when you do something good, and not feel guilty about it. 10: Look in a mirror pal. You’re projecting.