The atheist argument

This entire atheist-theist debate is getting to me these days. And overall, I see that most atheists are more understanding of where the theists are coming from. But theists start with the premise of 'These atheists...'. It's a free world, why in 'God's' name does anyone have to worry about anyone else's beliefs (or the lack of them). If we were even to try an intersection of the various beliefs and rituals in the world, we would end up with an empty set. So much in contradiction are the various religions and cultures of the world. What's good in one may be completely inauspicious in another. Crazy!! And everyone still wants to stick fast to what they learnt growing up.

My favourite argument has always been this - A new chess player is told to protect his Queen no matter what. Now, this is based on the assumption that the preservation of the Queen is directly related to his/her chances of winning. That said, you will still lose some and win some. And, that does not mean that you will not sacrifice the Queen if that is actually leading to a win. In the same vein, the concept of 'God' according to me, was actually introduced to make sure that the men of the world had some tenets they could follow to ensure that their and others' interests were secured. It was just easier to convince people to follow something if they were not given the option of not following it. So associating wrongful acts with the idea of divine punishment would actually make sense. Now going beyond that, if a person has actually understood this entire concept and the idea of God is not what is required to hold him/her in line, why should it be anybody else's problem what beliefs who has?!! Why has the 'source of the sin' been shifted from the person's acts to his/her beliefs or religious inclinations?