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Usually, Atheists/skeptics...whatever you want to call them, point to God as being cruel, not giving a second thought to the fact that every trouble man has ever been dealt...he has brought on himself in one way or another.

That is a strange, contradictory statement, I think.

Atheists and skeptics are not the same thing. There are just as many skeptics in religion than there are out of it. A skeptic is someone who is reluctant to believe something without evidence to support it. Now, there are many religious people who refuse to believe that god does not exist, because their own belief structure and the way they have been taught from a young age states that he does. They are amongst the most cynical and skeptical people when it comes to new ideas that may contradict or shake their own perception of reality.

Atheists do not believe in god - cruel or otherwise, so they most certainly do give thought to the fact that every trouble man has ever been "dealt" ... he hes brought on himself one way or another. It seems to me that it is religious people who claim god's intervention and encouragement of the troubles of mankind. It seems as though it is religious people who claim that god will wipe-out the "sinners" and defend them in battle. It seems to be religious people who glorify god when people are killed in "his" name. Not Atheists. Atheists, as not believing in god, acknowledge the fact that what we do directly affects what happens to us and that there is no "higher power" to blame when things go wrong, or congratulate when things go right.
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When simple self control, not to mention the humility to listen to wisdom and realize that knowledge is not based on how much man can do on his own, rather, what man can do that is best.

Since Atheists do not believe in any outside power, it is reasonable to assume that they believe that what man does, he does on his own. Therefore it is also reasonable to assume that they believe that when man does "that is best", man does so because he wants to. So I don't understand your point there.
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Who in their right mind feels that everything should be handed to them on a silver platter?
Well... some believe that god will grant them access into a perfect paradise, where they will have everything they could ever want, simply because they say a prayer.
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Is it not true...that violators of the peace...have their privileges of freedom removed, maybe on a permanent basis...depending? You see, we can afford ourselves that right, but when it comes to God? Nope...can't happen.
To an atheist, that would seem rather irrelevant, since they do not believe in god, so affording "rights" to something that you don't believe in seems rather odd.
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Further, we will find our skeptics laughing at believers in what can't be seen, yet, what skeptic does not believe there is not an Antartica or some other place they have never seen? What skeptic does not believe their was an Alexander the Great? How do they know for sure? Have they seen him?
Many years ago, a new idea was presented to the scientists of the day - that the world was round, spherical, and not flat as had been believed until that time. Now, most of the scientists of the time were of a somewhat religious bent and laughed at the very idea. It flew in the face of accepted tradition. They were skeptics and they were religious. Skepticism and Atheism are not synonymous, they are different things.

John