What I'm about to tell you may shock you, and it may horrify you. I am an atheist. The reason I am an atheist is that I see no evidence for a higher being of any kind, be it Thor, Zeus or the God of Abraham. I also see the destruction that religion causes all over the world, from the recent attacks in France over a magazine depicting the prophet Muhammad, to Pope Benedict XVI condemning condoms in Africa in the face of rampant HIV/AIDS. I also find it odd that a group of totally celibate men feel entitled to tell women and gay people what is appropriate sexual behavior. I see the attack on stem cell research, and the attempt to force creationism into American public schools. I see the fight between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, over which version of their totally unprovable doctrine is true. The Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, the Crusades. I could go on and on, but it would take all day.
My argument is this: before you pick up a Bible or a Qu'ran, or whatever, think. Why are so many people still insisting that we live our lives based on an ancient set of rules that do not work for the world we live in today? I think the world will a better place in a thousand years or so when, as a species, we've finally outgrown the need to live after we're dead, and have become content with living now, in this moment, in this life.
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