A couple of months ago, Daniel Lim sent me an email, asking me, as an atheist, what my core beliefs were and why I lived. I told him that I would think about it, and get back with him.

So, my mind dragged this subject up after yesterdays entry, which generated a lot of mail (thanx!) and got me thinking more on the subject. So...

As an atheist, my core beliefs are:

• There is no god; there are no gods. The fact that we don't understand why the world came into being does not justify making something up... like a god or gods.
• There is no afterlife; this life that we're living is all we've got.
• There is no hell.
• There is no justice other that what our society makes.
• There are actions that are right and actions that are wrong; some of these thing coincide with what the xian bible says are right and wrong, but many of them don't.
• Believing in something without evidence or proof is your right. Most generally, if you hold such beliefs, I will consider you to be foolish.
• People will try to get you to believe what they tell you to believe. Look at their motiviations. Follow the money, in other words. Hmmm... who gets this tithe, anyway? Oh, God does? OK.

OK, the next question: Why do I live? My assumption is that this question is, "What do you have to live for, since there is no heaven for you?"

• I like being alive. There is a joy to living that I will not experience after I'm dead.
• This is a wonderful world, in spite of its troubles.
• If I were an impoverished person in a third-world country, I might feel vastly different.
• There is a lot of opportunity to do good in this world, and it doesn't need to be in the name of some saint or another. It can be done simply for the good of humanity, or for the good of whoever it is that you are helping. If you're just helping people so that you can get to heaven, isn't that the ultimate in selfishness?
• There are a lot of people that I love.
• There are a lot of things that I want to do before I die.

It's really hard to boil all of my beliefs down, but trying to do it is good for me. I feel that there are many things that I've left out, though. I'm still looking for that one statement that will clinch it... I know that I will never find it, though. But I'm still looking.

The amazing thing to me about religion is that so many people never question their faith... they believe what their parents/preacher/priest tells them and don't really think about the whys that are involved. Even discussing the possibility that god might not exist with these people is very uncomfortable for them... they cannot allow themselves to think about it, it just upsets their whole world.

Another amazing thing to me is that this life is so good, this world is so wonderful... why go to all of the trouble to believe in a god and a heaven and a hell? Just open your eyes and your brain and enjoy! Once again, If I were an impoverished person, I might feel differently.

Religion, then, in my eyes, is a method that people use to get other people to do what they want them to do... against their reason and better judgement. So it works a lot better if the people are not given the opportunity or reason to think. In fact, if you start early enough in a childs' life with religious training, you may take away their very ability to think. And the religious leader know all of this.

And having other people do their thinking for them makes life a lot easier for many people.

Knowing that their enemies will burn in hell makes people complacent; why should they have to do anything about the injustices in their world? God will take care of it, after all, where it really counts...

I've spent a lot of time thinking about why people would want to hang onto their religion when they are obviously smart enough to figger out how silly their beliefs are. The best answer that I can come up with is that they are comfortable... and lazy. Actually thinking... questioning authority... finding the truth for themselves... this all requires effort. And then there is the fear part... "Jeesus, what if I actually find out that there isn't a god? My family will think that I'm nuts!" This could really mess up a churchgoers' life!

OK, enough of that.

Today was kinda fun... I spent most of the day hiding in the computer room, as expected. Had a good meal, though. The kids were all cute and they got to play outside a lot. It was a beautiful day, but very windy... up to 60MPH gusts. I woke up with a headache and it's stayed with me all day to some degree or another... right now it's pretty much in the background, though.

More tomorrow....