Some recent thoughts on religion

[daisy_down]

It has been coming up a lot in discussion these days, g/God and religion. I usually don't do a whole lot of writing on that particular subject because, frankly, it's exhausting and usually pointless. Still, someone said something the other day that reminded me of the general school of thought that the "godless" are without morals, values and a

Comments

[jesus_h_biscuit]

I believe in many ways that atheists are in fact better moralistically than most religious people if only because our penchant for being good citizens, people, and human beings comes from the simple notion that we SHOULD be, as opposed to only being our best selves for the reward/payoff of heaven in an afterlife. Because we SHOULD help where we can and do what is within our capability to accept those who live differently around us, because doing nothing when we could do something diminishes us as human beings - not because some imaginary sky fairy is looking at us from behind a cloud and would be displeased if we didn't. Our morality is measured more by what we SHOULD do, rather than what we CAN do that will rack up Jesus points for the pearly gates sweepstakes.

People of faith (especially fundamentalists) spend much energy trying to vilify and lionize atheists because sometimes we're not as 'nice' (and by 'nice', read: shrouded in insincerity) as they would prefer us, taking no responsibility for their own provocation but screaming like lambs to the slaughter when we have our fill of their rhetoric - as if they didn't ask for it. We're viewed as immoral for picking and choosing our own set of values instead of embracing antiquated, out of step biblical ones that fail base logic.

When fundamentalists of any stripe try and establish a pattern of condemnation or judgment against me for being an atheist, it's rather like having a certifiably insane person looking at you and saying
"Dude - you're fucking NUTS."