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| A great poem written by this kid I know so enjoy:
Why I am an atheist. I don't think I was ever really a Christian. There was a point in my life where I thought I believed in God, but looking back, it was just a pretence. I was a confused child wanting something I could not have simply because my mind worked too hard. My family is not an outright "Christian" family. When my parents were still together, we never went to church (unless of course someone died), never prayed over meals, and never practiced odd ceremonies such as Lent. But there was that short, confused time in my life where I thought I really was a Christian. I would have never gone to church unless SHE asked me. Hell, honestly that's the reason I went. To obtain the unobtainable. That has two meanings really. The girl I thought was perfect for me, I could never have, and I could never live the life of a lie. Obtaining the unobtainable. SHE was unobtainable and a "normal" life was unobtainable. I wanted the girl because I was lonely, and I wanted the "normal" life because my father had left me more than two years ago. Looking back I feel like a fool. First, for thinking I could get HER by believing (or at least pretending to believe) in HER god, and secondly for thinking that a life with a single mother and brother couldn't be "normal" without God. Already we can see the deep affect the Christian church has had on our society. I grew up in a house where God was unspoken but real (I guess) and there I am thinking that talking to myself and going into a special room once or twice a week will make me whole or "normal". The things they taught in church were interesting, I guess, but a lot of it made no sense to me. It seemed...foolish. Needless to say I gave up my curiosity about God after about two months of that. I learned that I wouldn't ever get HER and that my life was OK even though it wasn't the same as the next guy's. I had learned and experienced what "church" is.What is "church"? Church is religion. Believing in an ultimate being. Someone bigger, better, stronger, faster, and smarter than you can even comprehend. Religion is belittling yourself and depraving yourself, outright self-loathing in my mind. It is believing that many thoughts and impulses that you have are wrong, it defines your way of life. Religion was built out of ignorance. It was built out of a lack of science and rational thought. Men (forgive me for being sexist but at the time women were perceived as inferior and so I will continue using the term) couldn't explain things such as natural disasters (floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, and such) and so they created a supernatural being (or beings in some civilizations, but here again I speak on Christianity it being what I've been most exposed to) in order to help themselves comprehend and cope with things they couldn't. It helped them to explain frightening floods, fires, and famines. When an entire village was struck down with a disease then they must have done something religiously wrong, or maybe God just wanted them dead. It rationalized the unknown. Religion spawned out of ignorance. As much as Christianity hates Darwin and his work on evolution, it's amusing to note the evolution of the church. It went from explaining the unknown to controlling the way you live, the way you think and act. The Bible was rewritten in order to reflect the change in morals since the original was written hundreds of years in the past. This only makes sense. Even today the Church changes its stance on "moral" topics to reflect the "best" morals of the time. Such as drugs, alcohol, abortion, and now of course stem cell research. God's moral views change with the times because God's power lies in the people that believe in him (and their views are directed by the people that control the church), no matter how much they've raped the original religion.Why the Church holds sway over my life. Imperialism began the Middle East. (Now this next part may not be exactly correct but here is how I *think* it goes,) Imperialism began in the Church around 1000 A.D. when King Richard the Lion heart gathered an army and began the Crusades in order to take back the Holy Lands from the "barbaric" Saracens. Luckily, Saladin (the current Muslim leader) was able to keep him at bay. BUT the entire point of the Crusades was to retake the Holy Lands and CONVERT the Muslims and Jews that resided there. Converting Jews, how foolish is that? They spawned from the same religion as Christians. From there on out it was religious imperialism. The Aztecs fell, Egyptians fell, Native Americans fell, Inuits fell, Indians fell, many many tribes in Africa, aborigines fell in Australia, the world was being swept asunder by power hungry Popes and Cardinals. Even in MY day I have seen this foolish religious imperialism. When Nicolas and I were flying to South Africa there was a group of Christians (American) on board who were going to Africa to do missionary work. I hear of people going to South America still today to convert the poor farmers. Will the Church never stop?Even though I am an atheist I can't bring myself to hold religion against people. Some people need religion to exist, to survive. Some can't seem to cope with the fact that someday they're going to die and cease to exist. They can't comprehend non-existence. Religion grew out of ignorance and in it it still flourishes. I find myself at time gaping at some outrageous thing that a religious friend says, the utter delusion nearly driving me to grab them by the shoulders and scream "There is no fucking god!". But I can't. Aside from it being extremely rude, religion is still necessary. When the world finally comes about and learns that death isn't that frightening of an idea, religion will have begun to lose all its value. As much as I wish for that day to come soon, I know I will never see it in my life time. I can only hope to live my life based upon reason. Rational thinking. As much as I try to push some of my religious friends towards rational thoughts, I know I shouldn't. If they approach me with the subject then they're open game, but I don't believe it is right to take away from them that which they cling to so tightly. The separation could be in some ways very dangerous to mental stability, I'm sure because I've seen a bit of it in a couple friends of mine I approached with the topic. So I leave you now with one last thought: atheism isn't the rejection of God, it is the acceptance of life and all the pressures and burdens that come with it. These burdens may not always be able to bear, but mankind is a strong lot and I am sure can manage. Until that day comes, Mr. Smith
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Copyright Karma 2002 |