Appropriate for the season
Notice that I seldom use the word “Christmas” and there is a reason for that. I see it as a period in our lives when we come together with family and friends to share good times and bond. I see it also as a very destructive consumerism based tradition where expensive gifts are exchanged; oftentimes non-utilitarian and banal.
To those who celebrate this as a religious holiday I tip my hat and say: celebrate all you want, that is your prerogative and your right…but don’t try to push it down my throat as I don’t share the same religious ideology you do…as a matter of fact, I have none.
There are those who will insist that they have such mastery of the Scriptures as to be able to tell the rest of us what and how to conduct our lives. There is even a portion of that segment that claims divinity or the ability to communicate with that imaginary God that was created by them in man’s image, not the other way around. To those I say: BULLSHIT!, you are nothing but an egocentric, megalomaniac delusional fraud. Nobody, not one single human being that has lived or is still alive has the answers to the question of the existence of God and how all of this came about. Those who claim to have it do not base it on logic or science but on “FAITH” and that to me is not acceptable.
Ricky Gervais in Why I’m An Atheist: “I don’t believe in God because there is absolutely no scientific evidence for his existence and from what I’ve heard the very definition is a logical impossibility in this known universe,”
He further explains science: Science seeks the truth. And it does not discriminate. For better or worse it finds things out. Science is humble. It knows what it knows and it knows what it doesn’t know. It bases its conclusions and beliefs on hard evidence -- evidence that is constantly updated and upgraded. It doesn’t get offended when new facts come along. It embraces the body of knowledge. It doesn’t hold on to medieval practices because they are tradition. If it did, you wouldn’t get a shot of penicillin, you’d pop a leach down your trousers and pray. Whatever you “believe,” this is not as effective as medicine. Again you can say, “It works for me,” but so do placebos. My point being, I’m saying God doesn’t exist. I’m not saying faith doesn’t exist. I know faith exists. I see it all the time. But believing in something doesn’t make it true. Hoping that something is true doesn’t make it true. The existence of God is not subjective. He either exists or he doesn’t. It’s not a matter of opinion. You can have your own opinions. But you can’t have your own facts.
The majority of the people who claim to have “faith” do so for selfish reasons…first because it frees them from having to think; second because it tells them that if they are good and if they do well in life they will attain salvation and a place in paradise…this to me is not only a very cruel joke but downright obscene. They find in religion a reason for their existence, a reason for living. I learned about evolution ; only I was already a non-believer by the time I was ten. I rejected Creationism and the Catholic Church as early as my seventh birthday. Evolution of plants, animals and us –- with imagination, free will, love, humor; I don’t need a reason for my existence, just a reason to live. And imagination, free will, love, humor, fun, music, art, sports, diversity, beer, good wine, beluga caviar, sushi and good sex are all good enough reasons for living.
Ricky Gervais also says: “So what does the question “Why don’t you believe in God?” really mean. I think when someone asks that they are really questioning their own belief. In a way they are asking “what makes you so special? “How come you weren’t brainwashed with the rest of us?” “How dare you say I’m a fool and I’m not going to heaven, fuck you!”
So don’t accuse me of being arrogant, flippant and blasphemous…because you are the ones who are unreasonable by clinging to a fabricated ideology, an improbable and outlandish fairy tale that only in the minds of egocentric megalomaniacs can flourish.
You might also say to me that “being good” is a direct result of religious commitment or the existence of religion, Or “where would humanity be without religion?” I beg to differ…because if you are “good” only because religion tells you to be then you are not really that great a person…you are “bad” and pretend to be “good” in order to go to heaven; then if that is the case, you don’t deserve that salvation you seek and entrance into an imaginary paradise.
