Atheism

There seems to be a lot of confused feelings about atheism and it seems to mean different things to different people with only one aspect in common: the non belief in God (notice I use the capital G out of respect for those who do believe). Some atheists are fiercely anti God and / or anti religion so I think I'd better explain my position here: I do not believe in the existence of God or any other deity simply because I do not feel within my heart that such exists. I don't insist that God doesn't exist, only that I don't personally believe it. I also accept that I could be wrong. I have difficulty believing in the duck-billed platypus..... and I've seen those!

The trouble is that atheists are judged on something over which they have no control. We can't choose to believe something; either it rings true or it doesn't. As a child, I had problems with this because, in those days, religious instruction (or 'Scripture' as it was called) promoted the idea that not believing in God is sinful if not actually evil (and there is no shortage of people and institutions that still hold that view). So, for years, I prayed to a God that I didn't believe was there, went to Sunday School and sang in praise etc. etc. Now the odd thing about this was that I was not doing this to please God as I didn't truly believe. Nor did I fear the wrath of God for the same reason. I wasn't doing it to please others as I had actually chosen to attend Sunday School despite my embryonic atheism. I did it because, although I did not believe in God, I did accept the reasoning that I was, therefore, 'evil' and this was my way of compensating. The psychology of the child moves in mysterious ways that even God would never have thought of!

Now, I don't doubt that there are closet atheists who profess a belief in God to make themselves more socially acceptable. For a politician to claim to be an atheist, for example, would be professional suicide. I'm also sure that there are those who do believe but, for some reason or other feel bitterness toward a God they feel has somehow wronged them and have declared themselves atheists to get back at God (sort of voting with their feet). Faith can become very complicated. Take, for example, the priest who prays to God to restore his faith in the existence of the very God to whom he is praying.... such things could cause a rent in the Space/Time Continuum!!

To me, there doesn't need to be an intelligent entity directing everything. There doesn't need to be an Ultimate Plan and I don't feel the need to worship. I am quite happy with the concept that everything just is. I don't feel the need to know how or why we exist; I am content that we do. I am, however, suspicious of any school of thought that tries to dictate what we should believe. All that could ever be imposed is what we claim to believe as we have no control over what strikes us as true. It would seem that it doesn't really matter what we actually believe within the privacy of our minds as long as we outwardly conform to a prescribed system of 'belief'. This can only lead us away from truths.

As much as atheism has come in for unwarranted bad press, so has religion. More evils have been blamed on religion than has ever been blamed on atheism and this is because more evils have been committed in the name of religion. It's easy to then conclude that it is religion itself that is responsible for the Spanish Inquisition, the persecution of Muslims during the Crusade, the 'Troubles' in Northern Ireland and the current terrorism in the West from Islamic fundamentalists (I don't include the Invasion of Iraq here as this wasn't done in the name of religion but in the name of greed.... ie; control of Iraq's oil reserves). But religion is not the motivating factor behind these outrages but far baser motives: prejudice, control, retribution and good old tribal feuding.