Sorry to ruin your party if you thought that quote was from me. I am not the one that said that, "All believers in God are confused individuals." 

However, I do agree with at least part of that statement. That statement is part of one of many online petitions about a great variety of subjects at petitiononline.com. I first found out about the site when an airline pilot friend of mine pointed me in that direction for the purpose of checking out a petitiononline about pilots carrying handguns. While I was there, I saw this one too, "All believers in God are confused individuals" and decided to sign the petition and add my comments to the list. Below are the comments I put on the petition at that time (sometime in either 2002 or 2003 I think)... 

[I have not actually gone back through and read it all over again since I originally put these comments on the petitiononline yet or done any editing to it at all. I probably will do that at some point and take the text to use as another, self-existing page on my site. For now though, I just put it up here to at least get it up here in some form. ]...

"The mistake seems to be in the belief that it is of utmost importance to "know for sure". It is clearly not possible to "know for sure" about the existence or nature of any "purpose" for life. All "purpose" for life which anyone "believes" in was originally thought up by another human somewhere along our few million year evolutionary path thus far. Others then hear it and like it and decide to give mental assent to it (believe in it) so much so that they become "convinced" of it. In this "becoming convinced" there is often the mistake of losing sight of the fact that this thing which they've become "convinced" of is something which they have not actually verified with absolute certainty. The problem, as I see it, is when this "being convinced" is called "believing" is set up in the mind as something which is the most important component of one's worldview and takes the place of "actually knowing".

Now, they'll claim to "know" that it is actually true, and they'll even claim that it is actually "more real" than the present reality in which we actually live, but they are clearly mistaken. I know this because I used to do it as well. I have since been set free to actually use the brain (which they would say god gave me) and think through issues in life and not just accept something as "truth" because it is written in an old book or because someone says that it came from god (someone I'm not sure even exists). If they would simply acknowledge the "truth" of the fact that they don't really "know for sure", and that they've substituted "being convinced" for knowing, it would go a long way. It would at least provide an environment of the mind in which they could begin to be honest about the things which they "believe". 

It could also help us to all move towards more common ground upon which to discuss important issues in life with each other. It seems to make the most sense to me that discussions of important matters should be done in a context in which all participants are being totally open, honest and real with themselves and each other. Without acknowledging the true nature of my own world view, how can you enter into a discussion with me about important things at all? It would be no more accurate for me to say "I know for sure that there is a god" than it would be for me to say "I know for sure that there is no god". Neither statement is actually verifiable with absolute certainty. They are both based on my own, personal worlview which I have constructed for my self as a result of things which I have heard and picked up along the way in my life as a human.

When I am acknowledging and am being totally open, honest and real about the true nature of my own worldview, then and only then am I in a position to offer something worthwhile to others in a way that is safe for them to examine on their own. When I invite others "to think" instead of just telling them "what to think", then and only then am I providing an environment in which others can actually discover, learn, grow and mature at their own pace. Why would I want someone whom "loves" me simply because an old book tells them that god wants them to love me when I can be with other people whom actually love me because they have actually learned and grown and matured in love and compassion toward others because it seems healthy to them?

An option which I offer is this....we can simply take what we do actually know for sure about life and go with it. So, what kinds of "important things" do we actually know for sure? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, wisdom, respect of self and all others. Breaking the silence and speaking obviously true things out loud ("this planet is not flat", this planet is apx 4.6 billion years old", "all life forms on this planet have evolved from a single ancestor", "we are killing this planet and making it less habitable for those whom might still be here for millions more years" etc). Helping people get set free from bondage (religion in this case). Investigating the real world in which we actually live instead of hyperfocusing on some make-believe future condition or place. 

These things (mentioned in my last comments) are all things which we can know for sure are good and healthy things which we can engage in and employ in an attempt to love ourselves and each other and to go deeper with each other in real, meaningful relationships of love and compassion and to really know our world (the 4.6 billion yr old one that is), and develope meaningful ways of living together in healthy communities of love and compassion which seek to reach out to others and invite them into this freedom which we've discovered."