This all started because I got an Alpha Course pamphlet on my desk. (It was placed as a joke.)
We all have those 'awareness' moments. The sense of 'I' and sometimes they can be pretty intense! Impending, unstoppable death. Why are we here? Looking at your family and realising one day you will say a final goodbye to them and hope that they understand the joy they have brought to your life. Weighing up whether you have done enough positive things to merit people thinking you are a good person. Railing against injustice in the world and overcoming a feeling of powerlessness when things are wrong in society.
Blimey, no wonder people turn to a religious comfort blanket!
The benefits are obvious:
They say you will go to a heaven and be blissfully happy FOREVER! (Because this wonderful planet is not good enough.)
That a benevolent being is looking after you. (Provided you accept the correct being - there are, after all, SO MANY false gods! Irony.)
You will have a moral compass. (Because you didn't have one before - think of it as a free gift when you join.)
And be a better person. (Although you are not allowed to say that - that's rude. But all the gang secretly know it.)
But choosing and believing in what is (statistically a certainty) a lie/ misrepresentation/ false hope/ a con/ cult/ wishful thinking/ ignorance/ brainwashing/ threat/ etc. [delete as appropriate] is such an injustice to understanding.
So it might make them happy. I'm not authorised to deny them their happiness. Good luck to them.
Some
claim to have no doubt. And these are the ones I feel most pity for. It's the equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and denying all possibilities. A fear of being wrong. To have that sense of being special, the Earth being made specifically for YOU, taken away.
Am I a shameless zombie, denying a god's loving light? Am I ungrateful whelp, deserving of a punishment from a all powerful being? Am I tainted by a devil's knowledge, intent on corrupting the kind and good? Am I clearly too STUPID not to see what makes religious people so blissfully happy?
No.
My mind is open to all the possibilities. I have been vainly trying to find some, any, evidence for existence of a god. I would go to an Alpha course with an open mind, but I could not bear the thought of being 'taught' by someone who has closed their minds to the possibility that they don't need their metaphysical metaphors to lead a good life.
I have NEVER met an atheist who has stated that there is no god AND states that there is no evidence that they would accept to change their minds. Theists on the other hand HAVE to think this way. (It's 100% or nothing!)
And the insulting fallacy is that some theists see this as a weakness. (Hey! They could be persuaded!) Or have the cheek to call us close minded!
And this is why I feel so sorry for theists.
Just bask in the chaos of nature, the almost infinite random possibilities that lead us to this exact point in time, appreciate that we are creatures made from stars, that there is wonder in the expanses of space, beauty in a single grain of sand, that all life on this planet is connected...
We are all monkeys with big brains. If only some of us would use it more.
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