I believe there is no god.
Or, at least I believe there is no god that interacts in any way with human life or ever has.
My belief comes, I’m sure, as no surprise to my seven regular readers. If I haven’t so much as said so before, my dogma is implied by links I’ve posted, references I’ve made, a tone of disbelief I’ve exhibited. I’ve always assumed my regulars share my incredulity, or don’t care what I think and just want to know whose birthday it is, or are strong enough in their own beliefs to let me have mine.
In turn, I’m strong enough in my beliefs to let you have yours. It’s my blog, and after 2 million words, I can do as I please with it, but I don’t believe I’ve used NewMexiKen much to proselytize. At least not about religion.
But I am going to post links to two essays that are premised on beliefs similar to my own, and I thought first I should give witness, as they have.
I agree with this from The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, an excerpt from one of the best rants about Christianity I’ve seen:
Second, your “religion” is a myth. It’s bogus. Jesus did not die and rise from the tomb and ascend into heaven. Okay? That. Did. Not. Happen. God did not take the form of a little bird and fly down and impregnate an unwed teenage virgin girl so that she could give birth to a half-human half-divine man-god. Immaculate conception, virgin birth, raising people from the dead, walking on water, loaves and fishes — great stories, but correctly filed under “fiction.” The sad fact is, what you call “faith” is a form of mental illness. It’s amazing enough that so many of you are running around in your mental case dream world. But it’s simply unacceptable when you start trying to impose your delusions upon the rest of us. Cynical politicians may feel the need to humor you and kowtow to your demands. I, however, do not.
I like his conclusion, too:
It’s bad enough that you’re hateful bigots. But to dress up your hate and bigotry as an expression of Christianity? That, my friends, is pure evil. If you want to go around hating people, fine. Go for it. It’s stupid, and pointless, but whatever. Go hate people. Just don’t go around saying Jesus told you to do it.
So, listen up. You can’t put your bullshit in my app store. I’m sorry. But I won’t let you use my store to spread your hate. I don’t want any part in the spreading of your phony religion, either. There is no God. There is no heaven. There also is no hell, which is too bad, because if hell did exist, you would surely be spending eternity there, with red-hot pokers up your butts. And nothing would make me happier.
You really should read the whole thing. (Keeping in mind that the blog is satire and is not, so far as we know, written by the actual Steve Jobs of Apple.)
The other post is by Tanya at Dinner without Crayons. She titled it, “What would Jesus do?”
Tanya may not appreciate being conjoined here with the Fake Steve Jobs. Her post is more personal, and more open-minded and tolerant than the rant described above (you do need to go read all of both of them). Tanya writes:
If I really want to scare the other person off I tell them I am a liberal atheist lawyer. Few things evoke the horror and the revulsion of that statement.
Now, I am not a rabid, foaming-at-the mouth-atheist. I don’t believe in God, but I fully support your right to. People saying “Merry Christmas” does not offend me. I don’t care what is printed on our currency so long as I have enough of it. When people come to my door trying to save or convert me, I tell them that I admire the depth of their belief and wish them well.
Ironically, many of my closest friends are quite devout in their beliefs, and I am glad that their faith gives them comfort and a sense of belonging. They pray for me, and I think good thoughts for them. They don’t try to convert me and I don’t invite them to my naked goat slaughters in the moonlight. (Just kidding, I do invite them but they don’t attend.)
I think religion, like sex or politics, is deeply personal and that whatever consenting adults choose to do or believe that does not hurt or interfere with the enjoyment of others is generally fine by me. Rock on, rock out for Christ, rock the vote, whatever. But at the end of the day, I believe, as Dooce so eloquently wrote recently, “when we die there is no heaven, we just rot in the earth while worms digest our intestines. Merry Christmas.”
Taken together then, my beliefs. Peace.
I prefer to think of Christianity (and all religions for that matter) as mythology rather than fiction.
Ken,
In developing your beliefs did you consider what the concept of infinity has on your beliefs.
The basic question is: Is the universe infinite?
Your answer to that question will have profound effects on what you believe.
Ephraim F. Moya
You wiil be crying for His mercy when the time comes sinners!
Fundamentalists appear to confuse fear with faith.
Karma, baby! Just in case.
John: Karma, or the golden rule, a good philosophy to follow in life.
Lucas: I may be crying for mercy, but I think it unlikely — and going through life living in fear is hell enough.
Ephraim: Yes, I’ve read Aristotle. I’ve read Aquinas. The uncaused first cause that created the universe. That makes no sense as logic, and it says nothing about god acting on our small planet among the billions of planets.
To say nothing about endorsing a particular faith.
Why is it a good philosophy? Why should it matter?
It matters for the karma, of course.
Amen, Brother. Can I get a halleluja?!
Ken,
If it doesn’t matter why do you even care?
What do you care about? And where did you get that care?
Mrs. A: here’s an alleluia Beautiful!
Regards,
Ephraim F. Moya
Ephraim, we know now that many species care about one another and the community, be it a herd or pack or pod. Can homo sapiens not do so without a cosmic carrot or stick? Don’t most humans inherently cherish their family and their tribe? Or do you believe all humans are born psychopaths?
Which isn’t to say that three or four thousand years of people thinking about these matters hasn’t lead to many values for us to consider — including those of Jesus of Nazareth, whose teachings so few actually follow.
Hi, Ken. I’m an atheist, too. I called myself an agnostic for many years just to be polite, but I’m absolutely certain — I have faith — that there is no god. We made god in our image. There is no immortal soul. Death is an absolute end. Yes, that’s sad and scary but true.
I don’t care if other people believe in god except that so many of those are aggressive and want to change or rule my life, among others. The radical religious right helped push me to be more emphatic about my own beliefs.
It’s not that “nothing matters” without a religion to tell you what does matter. I’m always amazed by people who expect atheists to be unprincipled blood-thirsty nihilists. We don’t need a god to be good human beings and there is ample evidence that having a god doesn’t make one a good human being. peace, mjh
If there was a god, he would let me find a Joe Montana youth large jersey (anybody)? Seriously?
Also… I don’t agree with the any organized religion at this point, but I do still have faith. Faith intercedes when logic ends. That’s how I was always taught Aquinas by the Jesuits. Aquinas’ argument tries to define God’s existence by logic but you can’t close the loop without faith.
However, if I was an atheist, this would be my reasoning:
Douglas Gasking (from Wikipedia):
1.The creation of the world is the most marvelous achievement imaginable.
2.The merit of an achievement is the product of (a) its intrinsic quality, and (b) the ability of its creator.
3.The greater the disability (or handicap) of the creator, the more impressive the achievement.
4.The most formidable handicap for a creator would be non-existence.
5.Therefore if we suppose that the universe is the product of an existent creator we can conceive a greater being — namely, one who created everything while not existing.
6.Therefore, God does not exist.