Posted by COMF [COMF] on October 24, 1999 at 19:17:43 {f8eW6hUOe20vgA2d.KEIoRa3VCcycQ}:
In Reply to: **Atheism posted by Marilyn on October 24, 1999 at 18:43:44:
Hiya, Marilyn! July of '53. I have this wish that there would be an all-powerful, loving parent-figure that would protect me from things I can't control and forgive me for mistakes, separating the act from the person. But the wish has never been fulfilled. I'm not made of the kind of stuff that lets me squeeze my eyes tightly shut and pretend with all my might, and convince myself. I'm too attuned to reality (on a related note, nobody's ever been able to hypnotize me, either, although some professionals have tried. They said my subconscious refuses to give up control, or something like that...).
Well, I've discovered that when you give up adherence to the existence of God, along with it you give up a whole host of harmful growth-retardants, like demons lurking in used couches, and guilt over "bad" behavior that is only bad because somebody back in the mists of antiquity said so, and it caught on...
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for I know that there is nothing there."
COMF