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WINNERS AND SINNERS

As I type a friend of mine is a target. “High Priority” he is. The Church Of Jesus Christ Of The Latter Day Saints have earmarked him as a potential convert to God. Married to a Mormon who lapses frequently both in and out of the way of the Lord, three times this week alone the Rapture-fearing Few have descended upon his abode to try and make him ‘see the light’.

An avowed atheist, that is, someone who believes only in what your senses can detect, he is apparently possessed by Satan. He needs to be saved.

But what he doesn’t want to be saved? What if he doesn’t need to be saved? What if there is nothing to save him from?

What is there is no Satan, or, perhaps more frighteningly, what if there is a Satan, and Religion is another control mechanism he uses to impose morality onto people?

I’ve also been reading “Hey Nostradamus!” By Douglas Coupland. In this, there is a particularly odious notion. The concept adhered to by the religious that everyone they know who isn’t religious isn’t a human being, but some kind of animal. Some kind of state of being less than human, simply because they do not have any religious feelings. To look at your wife, or child, and to know in your holy heart that they have no soul, that they are not to be saved, that there will be no rapture, only damnation for them.

Oddly enough, I tend to think that those who aren’t religious are actually more realistic, finer members of society. Some people use their belief in God as a shield to hide behind : it exonerates their behaviour, vilifies their righteousness, and justifies their acts. But I don’t take orders from men who have been two thousand years. Or need anyone else to tell me how to think.

And I don’t think that Atheists or Agnostics have ever invaded any other country to try and ‘Convert’ them to their beliefs. There has never been a war on Atheistic grounds. After all, the concept of a rally by Atheists would be absurd. A procession of millions of people calling “What Do We Believe In? NOTHING! Is There Eternal life? NEVER!”. (And, to quote Bill Hicks, what does an Atheist say when he comes? “Ooooh Chemical Chance! Chemical Chance!”)

But think of it. Atheism is a brave choice. Atheists will never try to convert you to their cause. They will never do the “Sinners And Winners” thing, chasing down a street after you with a megaphone. They’ll just let you get on with your day. And you know why Atheism is a brave choice?

Because there is no grand design. There is no eternal purpose. No divine reason. Atheists live their lives knowing that their lives are meaningless, that there is no reason beyond biology, and the only way mankind can assign meaning to our lives is through meaningful interaction and good behaviour. Not assigning meaning through the belief in a divine higher entity whose both all-powerful and somewhat reclusive. The Howard Hughes, if you will, of the spirit world.

So what is Atheism? And why are the brave Atheists? Imagine spending the whole of your life knowing that your life, fundamentally, is without any spiritual guidance. That there is no salvation. No guarantee of an afterlife, nothing. Just a bunch of stuff happening on the grounds that it can. An Atheist fundamentally subscribes to Chaos Theory : that at any time, anything can happen. Which, incidentally, includes the descent of UFO’s or God suddenly granting an interview to CNN. Which, if that happens, I think I will have to tune in.

What it means though, is that the Atheist is brave. He lives his life knowing that there is no reason, no afterlife, and no resurrection : and still, we live in this. We continue, we breed, we try to make life beautiful for each other, without hiding behind God, or Allah, or Buddha, or WhateverHerNameIs.

Which is why I believe that Atheiests are fundamentally better people than the Religious : An atheists will never try to convert, or take a percentage of your income, or invade you. And he certainly won’t follow you down the road yelling to a megaphone. The Atheist will generally just live and let live. And I know who I’d rather spend the afterlife with.…. The only thing I need saving from are Religious Nutters. Smear me in lube. And throw me to the atheists instead.

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