But of course, first you need to get the claim straight before one starts blaming God for making them a joke (which can't be true if there is no God...for if there is no God, it isn't his fault if you are a joke).
According to theists, as written in their holy book, the promise is that God intends humans to be greater and more powerful than angels. Unlike angels, humans get to prove their loyalty and have the freedom to choose to do evil or good, even define for themselves what is evil and good (and some people, even when the definition of evil is purely secular, still choose that path).
As the Christian writer of Hebrews quotes the liturgical prayer:
What are human beings that you spare a thought for them,
or the child of Adam that you care for him?
For a short while you have made him less than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honour,
put all things under his feet.
--Hebrews 2:6-9.
The condition of humanity that is less than angels is (according to believers) temporary, like it was for Jesus of Nazareth, the first person of an entire congregation of people to whom this text from the Psalms is supposed to apply to. Sharing the very nature of God is one of the basic tenets of the Christian hope, at least those who have studied that faith thoroughly enough.--1 Peter 5:10
And sure, a lot of people who are religious don't do a very good job of learning why they believe. And too many of them parrot off the excuse: "You just have to have faith." That's neither reasonable, nor Scriptural.
Even James wrote to Christians who used the "faith" explanation as a crutch: "Even the demons have the same belief, and they tremble with fear. Fool!" (James 2:19, 20) Even the Bible is witness to the fact that some people get to have empirical evidence of God and reject it. It states that even God's chosen people, the children of Abraham, witnessed for themselves God at work, saving them from slavery through wonders and miracles, even seeing the Red Sea part. And did seeing God in this sense help them?
No. Faith that God exists and seeing that God exists does not guarantee a better tomorrow, and remember James called those foolish who believed and taught otherwise.
The statements about "faith" in the Christian texts are not in regard to the atheism/theism debate. They are only in regard to the believer's question: "How could God justify humans to the point of raising them to glory?"
Faith is about justification, not salvation. Paul stated that while "believing with the heart justifies" only "making a declaration from your lips saves."-Romans 10:10.
So even most theists have this wrong, otherwise by their own belief system even the demons are guaranteed salvation. And again, it's not that Paul was declaring a single declaration as a guarantee of salvation either, for he also wrote: "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling."-Philippians 2:12.
While true, some will find fault with the atheist about their conclusions because they are based on a misunderstanding. But then again who can blame someone for misunderstanding when most believers don't have it right to begin with?
