Faith

I am a man without a God. An atheist extreme. I do not believe in anything spiritual or heavenly. I believe that our existence on this planet is completely biological, accidental and without reason. I believe that we are nothing but incredibly complex organic beings and when we die there is no reward or penance for our actions. We just cease to exist and that is all.

I consider organized religion to be the longest con game ever run, built on a pack of lies written by powerful men to support their own agendas. I believe it prays on our instinctual guilt and insecurities, with billions in profit, giving simple answers to difficult questions through illogical fairy tales that condemn many of the natural instincts we should be embracing.

I believe the power religion holds over us will be the elemental ingredient to our downfall as a species. Meteors destroyed the dinosaurs. Blind faith in arcane guidelines will destroy us.

That said, I feel the need to clarify that those are MY feelings. MY beliefs. I do not hold a general aversion to faith, or to the faithful.

I am, after all, only one man. One man with his own cynical, concrete set of beliefs.

Many of my friends are religious and I love them. I don't give a shit if they believe in God or not. If no one is getting hurt - if they aren't walking onto a bus strapped with dynamite - I'll never judge em'. It's none of my business what they do.

I'll debate, but I'll never push it to the point of insult. They're my friends for a reason.

They're my friends because I repect them. Because they're good people. Because I dig having them around.

And I would never, in a million years, tell them they were wrong.

As much as I hate the philosophy of religion, I have a huge respect for faith in context. A good person is a good person - no matter what they believe in. If their particular faith happens to be part of the formula, so be it. It is what it is. Life goes on.

If it turns out I'm wrong and there is a heaven, I'd better have some good answers ready for that trial. Maybe I should start taking notes. Just in case.

Ah, who am I kidding? I'm fucked.