You don't CHOOSE to be an atheist any more than you CHOOSE that you don't believe in Santa Claus [Spirituality & Religion]

I cannot choose what I believe when it comes to statements of objective fact. I will believe the claim best supported by the available evidence. If a god or gods exist and has an effect on our universe (as most theists claim) it/they exist objectively and independent of any subjective experience. We have had at least 10,000 years of human history and still no evidence more substantial than, "everything seems to work with such precision and we don't understand how it happened exactly therefore a wizard....I mean god did it!"

That's why I am a "strong" atheist. I am comfortable saying gods don't exist on the same level I am comfortable saying giant talking spiders don't live in my backyard.