Now, I am about to piss off a few people. Do I care? NO.
I AM AN ATHIEST!
I do not believe in a higher power.
Someone in “heaven” who watches over us.
Who makes judgments on what we do.
Who defines us on who we love.
Organized religion is a con game. It takes people’s fears and forces them to do irrational things based on writings that were written eons ago, which really have no relevance in the 21st century. For the first 15 years of my life, I bought into this bullshit (through the Catholic Church.) But like any rational thinking being, I began to question things. Why do we have to do this? What is heaven? Is there really a “God?”
Okay, one of the reasons that I realized that I was an atheist (in addition to accepting my sexuality) is because of the Internet (and the World Wide Web.) Once I became connected (in 1998,) there was a influx of information. I had to learn how to discard the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. I was finally able to make my own rational decisions about the existence of “God.”
One of the things that became apparent was that religion has always played a major role in war. The Crusades. The Spanish Inquisition. The American Revolution. And now we have ISIS, and their push to control the Middle East based on Sharia law. Religion has become a cancer on the human race. That is one of the reasons that the separation of church and state was written into the Constitution of The United States. Secular beliefs have no place in modern society. But ISIS (in the Middle East) and the Conservative Right (in the United States) are trying to shove their agendas down our throats like the facehuggers in the movie “Alien.”
Now, I am not going to deride the people who do believe. On the contrary, you’re more than welcome to worship a higher power. When I see your posts on Facebook about “God,” I scroll past them and resist the urge to comment. If you share it to my timeline, I will delete it. BUT, if you start to push to me with it, I will NOT react very well. Remember, I AM AN ATHIEST!
(A disclaimer: For those who have seen my wedding video on YouTube, yes my husband and I were married by a Moravian minister. He is a long time friend and was very honored to officiate at our wedding.)
Yes, I am sounding like an asshole, but I have become a little set in my ways about organized religion, based on my personal experiences, and all the information that I have read. I am trying to understand what is going on, but I know one thing for certain:
I AM AN ATHIEST!
-30-
© 2015, Dean A. Basler Jr., all rights reserved.
http://www.deanbear.com
http://www.deanbasler.com
http://www.facebook.com/DeanBearSyr
The DeanBear Chronicles 
Dean, after your invitation and warning about your posting, I took some time to read and reflect on your piece. For the most part, I agree with everything that you say about the nature of religion and certainly the history/heritage of the church.
For me, however, there is one big difference. I do not view God and the church as the same. I don’t even think the church, despite it’s claims, represents God. I do believe in God. I do believe that there is a power greater then myself, a force that calls us to healing, peace, hope and love. I do believe that there is a unifying force or being beyond us.
I do believe in God, and I believe that God is best expressed in the radical teachings of Christianity, which when lived in pure form manifests itself completely different then the history you depict. The followers of these teachings establish what we know as hospitals and hospices to care for the sick and dying. The followers of these teachings have founded university after university to move people from ignorance to knowledge, power and advancement. The followers of these teachings feed the sick, visit those imprisoned, cloth those who are naked without choosing to be so, care for the orphans and widowed, move to rebuild communities after disasters and wars, seek to give people access to clean water and sanitary conditions.
Without doubt, faith adherents have done much that is wrong. But they have also done much that is right and good. So yes, I choose to believe in God. I have to, for no other reason then this: This afternoon, I hugged my grandson, and I held in my arms my month old granddaughter, and was so filled with love. I believe in God because I have to have somebody to thank.