I realize that a cursory read of my previous post would sound a lot like a general dismissal of atheism, but it wasn't. I was specifically addressing the science-atheists who declare that no one should believe in god, that a belief in god is bad for people and society, and that science can or has disproved the possibility of god's existence.

These are two radically different statements:

"I do not believe there is a god; there is no evidence of his existence, and it seems most probable to me that he does not exist."

Which by the way, may as well be an agnostic position. But that's a technicality here. And:

"Science can definitively prove that god does not exist. Anybody who believes in god is in denial of the actual facts; moreover, their beliefs are really bad for them and for me."

I am familiar with some of the specific atheist arguments suggesting that science can (and does) prove a negative like the nonexistence of deity, and I'm going to talk about those later. But I want to be clear that, as I already said, I greatly sympathize with the agnostic position. I often wake up in the morning confident that there is no god (doesn't everybody? no?), and go to sleep confident that there is a god. I take great exception to the coworker who once told me that "anybody who believes in god is a f***ing idiot."