Faith starts from a desire to believe, so if you don't want to believe then unless that changes nobody will ever be able to change that you don't believe. It is not something that can be changed by anyone on the outside - it is a choice.

To be perfectly honest, it saddens me when someone tells me that they don't want to believe in God. I wonder why they don't want something that has been so important to me. I wonder if there is some experience that has influenced that choice. But it is not my job to force belief on anyone, or even to try to motivate them to see things my way. I will respect your choice, as I expect you to respect mine. Still, if I am really honest, I think that there is in me a bit of smugness that 'I know something that you don't know (yet?) and maybe some day (in this life or after) you will know (or remember). There is a desire to share what I know because it is so important to me and I can't imagine not having that or wanting to have that. But gifts of that nature are best given to those who are open to them. True gifts are never forced on anyone. What would that be if they were? Whatever the correct term, it would be intrusive, and I don't want to intrude where I am not invited or welcomed.

Apart from those feelings, atheists and others whose beliefs differ from my own are all people first, as I am, and what we have in common is so much more than any of our differences. There is a lot that I can learn from you, and probably a lot that you can learn from me, whether it even has anything to do with belief or nonbelief. There is plenty of room for friendship.