I Don't Believe In Anything
Religion and politics are hot buttons no matter where you go. So here I am pushing the religion one big time. I'm not around to endure the fallout I'd otherwise expect from the devout, so feel free to send me hate mail, if you're so inclined.
You see, I'm an atheist. But unlike some Christians I've known, in the interest of remaining civil, I don't go around attacking those who contradict them or trying to convert them. I've always viewed one's personal belief system as a private thing. I've had relationships with religious women, and it's never been a problem. But now that I'm dead, there's no need for me to keep my belief system all bottled up.
You see, in reality, I don't have a "belief system," because I don't believe in anything. Allow me to explain...
Accepting religious doctrine by definition requires one to believe in a great many things one cannot verify oneself. Here's the dichotomy I just don't get: the devout will scoff at sci-fi, fantasy and horror tales, be they in books, on television or in cinema. Yet, curiously, those who pooh-pooh such nonsense fervently believe that a man was born of a virgin woman, and came back to life after he was executed. And that there's a great big bearded man up in the sky closely monitoring the lives of billions of people (the ultimate stalker). Plus a whole litany of so-called miracles, some of them quite absurd if viewed outside the context of religion. Not to mention that there are countless religions, the members of which all have their own unique views of what's so, each asserting that they alone are right. Why the multiple-standard?
Why are Christians, as an example, devoted to such an evil institution? Wait, why would I refer to organized religion as evil? Think about it: more people have been killed in the name of a deity than in all of the world wars combined. The Crusades ring a bell? Oh, that was so long ago! How the devout creatively divorce themselves from a past to which they paradoxically cling. I mean, Christ lived two millennia ago; the Crusades were practically yesterday by comparison. I'm sorry, you can't cherry-pick history. And I won't even bother to get into all of the countless contradictions and inconsistencies in the Bible—plenty of others have already done so. How easily they're all overlooked or explained away—or not. Most Christians tactfully subscribe to the "spirit" of their holy book, but some strictly adhere to it literally, word for word. Frightening.
(As an aside, I realize that not all churches are evil; a great many of them provide help, support and services for those in need. But, they could do so without the pretense of religion. Why create a false agenda? Just do good!)
To be sure, religion was not a pretty thing. The church was ruthless: books were banned, learning was prohibited, knowledge was suppressed, all in order to maintain control of the general population. This intimidation continues today, but in more subtle, insidious ways; for instance, the more flamboyant religious leaders openly and flagrantly claim their god wants them to be filthy rich. And yet, people continue to throw their money at these con artists. Can they not recognize a scam when it's right there in front of them?
Frustratingly, the devout maintain that one cannot be moral without being religious. Nonsense. The two concepts are quite independent; one need not believe in a deity or follow any religious dogma in order to be moral. (Righteous is often paired with moral, but please keep these two different words distinct.) Besides, the devout are every bit as capable of murder or any other crimes as anyone else. Ten Commandments? Useless. Amusingly, more than half of them have to do with How The Deity Shall Be Worshipped. Those aren't moral guidelines; they're arbitrary tenets laid down by people of religious authority attempting to instill fear in the hearts of their flock, because fear equals control.
Religion breeds passive-aggressiveness as well; it offers people the false sense of comfort and security in the "knowledge" that all of the nonsense in their lives has meaning. Worse, religion provides a way to shrug off personal responsibility: it's "God's Will" for all of this bad shit to happen. No need to take ownership of one's actions or their consequences; it's all in the Hands of God. Sin. Confess. Repent. Repeat. Isn't it amazing how many murderers on death row "find Jesus" just in time?
So-called modern life is making the situation worse instead of better: the Internet is a breeding ground of myth, misinformation and outright lunacy, preying on the gullible. So, deity-worshippers, do you believe the world is flat? Nonsense, you'll (hopefully all) say. Well, why are flat-earthers growing in number? Increasingly, the signals of truth and common sense are being drowned out by the noise of utter nonsense and outright lies. Alas, religion is undeniably a part of that noise. I offer as a prime example: Scientology.
A certain serenity comes with not believing in anything: I cannot have my faith challenged, ridiculed, broken or taken away, because I have none. I cannot be brainwashed or coerced into drinking anyone's Kool-Aid. And the world continues to function perfectly well without my having to suspend my disbelief for the sake of someone else's delusion. You don't need to believe in gravity for it to work. Or light. Or electricity. These and many other basic phenomena are undeniable, universal truths that do not rely on anything supernatural to exist.
Oh, there are a great many things I accept as true that I cannot confirm for myself. Thanks to overwhelming evidence, I don't need to travel to the stars in order to accept that they're separated by immense distances. I accept the likelihood that the Earth formed through the process of accretion, that dinosaurs existed in the distant past, and that we evolved from pond scum (well, most of us have evolved; some doubt remains with certain members of the population). I even accept the possibility of extraterrestrial life, although I do not believe we've been visited by "little green men"—there's no overwhelming evidence to establish them as anything more than certain people's delusions, much like deities. At the same time, if overwhelming evidence should contradict anything that I currently accept as true, then I'll gladly adjust my thinking accordingly. It will not threaten my emotional state or my existence in any way. Proof of God? I'm all for it—you just gotta show me, and not with some mumbo-jumbo bullshit double-talk. Pony up some concrete evidence. So far, no one has been able to do this, so... ain't no such thing.
A dear friend of mine once claimed she could prove god is a myth with two words: pediatric oncology. I think that's brilliant. God as a loving deity? At best he's a petulant child; at worst, a murdering psychopath.
MY HERO:
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Finally. Someone who truly gets it, and has the balls to say so, too. Thank you, Bill Maher.
As you read this, know that my body has been chopped up in order to harvest useable organs, and the rest went to some lab to study. I am not in a better place. Or a worse one, for that matter, although I'm certain a few folks might think I deserve the latter. All that remains of me now are those thoughts I've committed to virtual paper. I'm not the slightest bit concerned if any of my musings offend anyone, for offense is in the eye of the reader. And finally, if you absolutely must worship something, worship the Earth; heaven knows She needs all the help She can get.