Is engaging with nonbelievers a waste of time?

There is an art in choosing your battles, so to speak. It is very much within the fold of the overall subject of being aware of and exercising skills in the art of living. Engaging in or avoiding time-wasting follies is very much a skill learned through life experience itself, often making mistakes and then learning how to be more judicious in taking on what you are equipped to handle, not biting off more than you can chew, and in particular, not beating your head against the wall, so to speak, where you are doomed to fail because the strength of resistance is greater than your resolve or the tools you can bring to bear. There are many well-entrenched nonbelievers who will spurn any argument and will resent any attempt to encroach on their thoughts. They have become steeled to resist and view any outsider with an agenda, with great suspicion. As you can imagine, this is heavily reinforced with inner mind control and manipulation from the interlopers who wish to darken your world. This creates a double challenge. It is more you are taking on than simply the person sitting before you, who may have their arms crossed and mind made up and will take great pride in batting away every volley in the way of argument you might launch their way. We take to mean by your question, when there is a forum in which they are present and perhaps soliciting challenges to their perspective, that is a different matter, and while their motive may be solely showing off their prowess and their satisfaction, having arrived at a feeling of competence and certainty of their wisdom in nonbelief, they are opening themselves up to the challenge of considering alternatives. And so while their motivation is simply taking their beliefs out for a test drive with the intention to sharpen the knives further, to hone their weaponry to a higher degree of perfection, they are opening the door at least, to an outsider, and therefore become fair game for those who are willing to take them. There can be many potential gains in doing so. First of all, you may not win them over but you may plant seeds that will begin to sprout later on, when they have had some difficulty. In particular, when they are laid low by the challenges of life of a severe kind that overwhelm them, leaving them in pain and suffering. That may well be a time when they realize their own complacency is not helping them and are in desperate need of something beyond the self, to right the wrong, to save the day, to raise them up or bring in a higher power than they can muster from within their own thoughts. This is when people are open to divine intervention and can begin to suspend their inner skepticism and open the door within their mind to new possibilities. After all, the concept of divine intervention is universally present through the culture, so it always exists as a possibility. If not embraced at the moment, it may well be embraced later when circumstances force this on the nonbeliever, if only as a last gasp, or grasping at straws, so to speak. Having implanted the possibility in a cogent, thoughtful, and powerful way, this very seed may be the thing that saves them down the line. The greater benefit is that in a forum open to the public, others will be watching also, and there may be hearts and minds changed through the exchange of views that may not alter the hard-core nonbeliever holding forth, but might convince someone on the fence, so to speak, with the power of your argument on behalf of the divine, and this will be very much worth doing. All need saving, if only from themselves and their misguided notions and accumulated corruption of thinking from many adverse events, as well as bad advice, example, and manipulation. All are exposed in life to would-be role models who themselves are faulty and misguided, and promulgating incomplete answers and half-truths. The inner core of spirituality connected to the heart of each person can be their true lifeline and salvation to help them get back on track when they stray from the divine path. All have this within, all start out on a divine path, but most become distracted and enticed to take an alternative path at some point but need a way to return. And this is what you are offering with all of your work and will resonate with many people who inwardly are seeking a return to the divine path, but may not know how. Your words can make the bridge for them and this will be a blessing.