God Wants More Atheists

[Tessera]

God Wants More Atheists


I am an atheist. I am also an anti-theist... which means that not only do I not believe in "god," but I would also like to see religion itself abolished. I wanted to say that up front and get it out of the way, because in this article I am actually going to make a religious argument... on behalf of "god."

...

Right now, at least a few of you are staring at me like a deer caught in the headlights and wondering what I've been smoking. So let me say it again: in this article, I am going to make a religiously-based argument on behalf of "god's will." Specifically, I am going to assert that "god" not only loves atheists like myself... but that "god" actually WANTS more atheists in this world.

Sounds pretty irrational on the surface, doesn't it..? Well it's not. Bear with me, and I'll do my best to explain my point of view.

As I stated in the first sentence of this article, I am an atheist. I have no religious beliefs of any kind whatsoever. I do not believe in the concept of a supernatural god (or gods, if you subscribe to polytheism). But be that as it may, I am going to switch sides for a moment and then, from a religious point of view, explain why I believe that "god" not only wants us to be atheists, but why "god" in fact detests religious people. Okay, okay... supposedly he's the god of love and all of that crappola. So then, you can change the word "detests" to "strongly disapproves of." Better..? Cool.

Now let's get into the meat of it...

According to most of the prevailing religious beliefs in this world, "god" created the entire universe. The whole damned thing. He/she/it sat down one day and decided that the infinite void was way too boring... and so, "god" set about creating everything that has ever existed or ever will exist. So far, so good.

And in this new universe, "god" created life. And some of that life evolved into human beings. Or, if you do not believe in evolution, then this "god" directly created humans and he created them to his personal specifications. It doesn't matter... either way, whether you believe in evolution or not, it still comes down to humans being the direct product of "god's" divine plan. We are exactly what he made us to be. That's the point. "God" built us... and now we're here.

If you are religious and if you are still with me so far, then you will surely agree that all aspects of human beings... both good and bad... are a direct result of "god's" creation. Even the evil bits... because evil is a component of the cosmos and since "god" created the cosmos, then by default, "god" created evil, too. Satan didn't exist before "god" created him, right..? Good... then we're still on the same page, I hope. Because to believe otherwise would mean that "god" is fallible... and that's the last thing that any true believer will be willing to accept. If evil exists, then it's because "god" wanted it to exist. Still with me..?

But I'm not here to talk about good versus evil. I just want to talk about the good things today. So let's get back to this notion that "god" created human beings and that he created us to be exactly the way that he wanted us to be. We need to start with that premise... because if we don't -- if humans have turned out to be different than the way "god" wanted us to be -- then once again, it means that "god" fucked up and made some major mistakes. And as we all know, "god" is infallible.

When "god" created humans, "god" gave us many different qualities and traits. For now, I just want to focus upon three of those human traits: intelligence, curiosity and creativity.

It could be argued that those three traits... intelligence, curiosity and creativity... are the three most fundamentally important human traits which exist. Without those three traits, there would be very little difference between humans and garden slugs. It is our intelligence which allows us to understand the things that we experience. It is our curiosity which enables us to seek out NEW things to experience. And it is our creativity which allows us to imagine things that we have never actually experienced... but might wish to experience some day. In a way, creativity even allows us to produce new things out of (essentially) nothing... kind of like what "god" did when he created the universe. So I think we can all agree that intelligence, curiosity and creativity are perhaps the three most important and defining human traits of them all. It's certainly an idea worthy of serious consideration.

Throughout human history, there have been many consequences of intelligence, curiosity and creativity. Some of those consequences have been wonderful... such as science, philosophy and art. Some of those consequences have been horrible... such as witch burnings, racism and wars. You gotta take the bad with the good, I guess. For now, let's zoom in onto one of those good developments... the development of science.

I have often had debates (and arguments... and fist fights...) with religious people, during the course of my life. Several times, I have been confronted by religious people who have apparently come to the conclusion that science is somehow the "enemy" of religion and thus, science is somehow "evil" or at least "bad." Well this is an odd position to take, because science is (1) a direct consequence of the intelligence and curiosity and creativity that "god" gave us and (2) a tool by which humans explore the true nature of the cosmos. So when you think about it for a moment, it really comes down to something like this...

(1) "God" created the universe and everything in it.
(2) Therefore, "god" also created science.
(3) Conclusion: science is thus the work of "god."

Far from being "god's" enemy, science is actually something that "god" wants us to have. Otherwise, he never would have created science in the first place. Logical, yes..? Of course it is.

So what does any of this mental masturbation have to do with "god" and atheists, you may ask..? Well, I'm getting to that.

In the earliest segment of human history, we had essentially no science to speak of. Oh sure... the science was always there, but we hadn't discovered much of it yet. But in the meantime, the world was filled to the brim with an endless number of frightening, perplexing, interesting and intriguing qualities. Not the least of which was "What the fuck is all of this shit and why the hell am I here..?" Surely, that would have been a very popular question, back in ancient times.

And so, it was time to start coming up with some answers. Never fear... "god" is here. For the first stage of human progress, this "god" made his presence known and in response, we all began wearing funny clothes and dancing in circles and generally behaving like enraptured little campers. "God has shown us the answers!" we all cried. And life was good. We no longer needed to worry about why everything was here... because "god" had shown us why. And so, we prospered. Good thing, too... because without religion, we may have ended up eating each other (or worse). It was important, during the early stage of human development, for us to have at least -some- sort of belief system which provided us with the answers to The Big Questions. Otherwise, we would have driven ourselves insane. It's that damned curiosity thing again... once we start wondering about shit, the more we tend to obsess over it if we can't figure out the answers. Religion helped to satisfy that insatiable human curiosity and for a time, it was better than nothing. At least we could sleep at night... knowing that our all powerful creator had filled in the gaps for us.

That would have been enough... were it not for that other human trait: intelligence. It was inevitable that our intelligence would cause us... or at least, some of us... to question the answers that had been provided by religion. "This doesn't make sense," the blasphemers would say. "I need an explanation that can be proven... something more concrete, more plausible." And so, we began to move away from the simple answers provided by religion and instead, we took the plunge and started to do something else called "science."

I'm not going to go into an extended history of human science, so relax. But what I will say is simply that with science comes new ways of understanding the cosmos. And sometimes, those new understandings have directly conflicted with the teachings of religion. So much so that eventually... and it was inevitable... some humans reached the stage where they faced a crisis of faith. Their automatic acceptance of and belief in "god" became seriously strained.

And thus, atheists began to emerge from amongst us. Free-thinkers, who no longer felt obliged to blindly believe in a "god" or "gods," without first being shown actual, scientific proof.

Now let's go back to what we were talking about earlier. We said that "god" created humans to his own specifications. And we said that "god" created the universe and everything in it, hence "god" also created (and wanted) science. And we also said that science gave us new tools with which to expand our understanding of the cosmos... that same cosmos that "god" created for us to live in.

The sharper minds out there probably already see where I am steering this discussion. But I'm gonna say it anyway...

I think it can be said that as our scientific knowledge increases, our dependence upon the (often) irrational dogma of religion decreases. Or to put it even simpler: as science grows stronger, religion grows weaker. We see the proof of that assertion all around us. For instance, the majority of top scientists in the world today self-identify as being either atheists or agnostics. Don't ask me for proof of that statement... this isn't a term paper; we're just having a discussion. Go look it up for yourselves, if you feel the need to dispute that statement. It's true... and you know that it's true... so let's just move onwards, shall we..? Amongst any particular demographic group, scientists in particular have a very high percentage of atheists and agnostics amongst their ranks. That is a fact.

Likewise and amongst non-scientists, the more educated and aware the general population becomes, so far as the numerous Big Things that science has revealed to us, the less likely people are to remain blindly and vehemently religious. Oh sure... they may still believe in "god" and they may even keep going to church... but their willingness to LITERALLY accept the dogma of their religion becomes diminished in direct proportion to their scientific knowledge.

At the time of my birth, which was longer ago than I care to admit, roughly 4% of the American population identified themselves as being non-religious. That figure is according to U.S. census data, I believe.

But in the time since my birth, the general population of America is far better educated in science than it was in the years prior to my birth. Popular science programs like Carl Sagan's "Cosmos," for example, did a great job at bringing hard science into everyone's living rooms. Furthermore, the proliferation of the internet as a communication and research tool has likewise helped enormously to bring all sorts of concepts into our lives... much more so than any previous form of mass media. I realize that people love to bash the USA these days and claim that collectively, we don't know diddly squat about science. But the actual fact of the matter is that, by and large, the average American today is far more versed in general science than we were a century ago. Back then, most people didn't give a damn about science. But today, most people have at least -some- general knowledge of the sciences. They are actually interested in it, to at least some degree. Hey... it's an improvement.

Today, roughly 14% to 20% (the interpretation of the data varies) of Americans have identified themselves as being non-religious. That's a staggering upward spike in the number of atheists and agnostics in this country. A STAGGERING increase. A century ago, the percentage of non-religious Americans was roughly the same as it was at the time of my birth. But today... only a few decades later... the number of atheists and agnostics in America has increased by FOUR TO FIVE TIMES. What could have caused such an abrupt and enormous spike in the number of non-believers..?

Science, that's what.

We've landed on the moon. We've discovered and -proven- new aspects of quantum physics. We've sent robotic reconnaissance missions to Mars and the outer planets. We've extended human lifespan, via medicine. We've invented a computer that you can hold in the palm of your hand (such as Androids and iPhones) and it can even make phone calls from anywhere on the planet. We've developed what is probably the most socially significant scientific invention of all time... the internet, which has suddenly thrust peoples from all different locations and communities into one, big chat room. The free exchange of ideas and information provided by the internet has had a staggering effect upon religion, by the way. As one might very well expect it to.

All of this science and free exchange of ideas has, in my opinion, had the side effect of producing an ever-increasing number of non-religious people in this world. It is truly awesome to see.

Well, all of that science and free exchange of information also happens to represent real human progress.

I am going to assume, for the sake of argument, that "god" wants us to make progress. If he didn't, then we'd all still be living as a bunch of smelly sheepherders at the foot of Mount Sinai. "God" created science, remember..? And surely, this means that "god" wanted us to actually USE this science, right..? Well then, "god" wants us to make progress. You can't have one without the other.

But now, we find ourselves confronted with an interesting little paradox...

(1) God created science. Science is good.
(2) God wants us to make progress. Progress is good.
(3) Science and progress seem to have, as their consequence, the effect of causing some people to reject the notion of "god."

Does this then mean that atheists are "good" too..?

If atheism is the direct consequence of the intelligence and progress that "god" has given to us... and if this "god" is indeed an infallible, all-knowing entity of some kind... then surely this means that "god" had already anticipated the current upsurge in atheism. Well then, what does this mean..? If he knew that it was going to happen... and if he gave us the tools to MAKE SURE that it happened...

...then we must be forced to conclude that GOD WANTS ATHEISTS.

This is where some of you will probably click the "back" button on your browser and go do something else on the web. Hey, I have no hard feelings. Leave if you must.

But for those of you who are still with me this far, let's ask ourselves WHY this "god" would want us to become atheists. And I have a theory for that...

We said earlier that there was a time when religion... with all of its dogma, superstition, misinformation and rituals... was probably a necessary evil in this world. Without it, at least back then, we may not have had that little push that we needed to get out of the fucking cave and start asking more of The Big Questions. So okay -- I get it. There was a time when religion had its place amongst our species.

But "god" wants us to make progress, remember..? That's why he gave us the tools that we needed to pursue that progress. So it stands to reason that we may be headed into the next stage of human development... a stage during which we no longer require any religious beliefs. In fact, it could be convincingly argued that at this stage of human progress, having religious beliefs could actually IMPEDE that progress. We have all seem examples of how scientific pursuits have been unfairly curtailed, due to interference by religious powers. Are you still with me..?

Then let's make another list. Gee, I love my short lists...

(1) "God" wants us to make progress. Progress is good.
(2) At this stage of human progress, religion has become a stifling influence... and so...
(3) At this stage of human progress, religion is BAD.

Atheism and agnosticism represent a rejection of religion. If it is true that "god" wants us to make progress, and if it is also true that at THIS stage of human progress, having fervent religious beliefs could actually stifle the rate of our progress, then it seems to me that we have reached an inescapable conclusion:

"God" wants us to move away from religion. It served its purpose once... but now, it is time to move on and into the next stage of human progress. And the best way for us to do what this "god" wants us to do is...

Yes, you guessed it...

"GOD" WANTS US TO REJECT RELIGION AND BECOME ATHEISTS.

Only by becoming atheists and agnostics can we fully reject the stifling influence of religion. Only by becoming atheists and agnostics can we free our minds and our hearts and more fully embrace the new ideas that our ongoing research will reveal to us. And only by becoming atheists and agnostics will we know what to do with those ideas, if and when they become available to us.

Otherwise, we will forever be locked into this idiotic practice of trying to reconcile our new-found knowledge with the ancient and obsolete belief system of religion. We see plenty of people desperately trying to do that sort of thing today... and their attempts always fall flat on their face. It is simply not possible for a huge book filled with Bronze Age myths to reconcile itself with the concrete and demonstrable facts of science. Many great minds have tried... people with much greater minds than my own... and they have, in every instance, failed miserably on all counts.

"God" does not want us to stop making progress. We already know that. Remember what we said earlier..? He wouldn't have given us the ability to make progress in the first place, unless that was exactly what he wanted us to do. And being that he is an all-powerful, all-seeing and all-knowing super-being who created the universe, I think it is safe to assume that "god" knew that one day, we would all reach this point: the point where religion would come into direct conflict with human progress.

In short: there was a time when "god" wanted us to be religious. But now, he wants us to STOP BEING RELIGIOUS, for our own good.

If you stop being religious, then you are -- by default -- an atheist or an agnostic. That's what those two terms mean: people who do not have any religious beliefs or, at the very least, they question the validity of religion.

I will conclude this discussion by making yet another of my little lists, because I think those lists help us to summarize things in a nice, neat way...

(1) "God" created the universe.
(2) "God" therefore created science.
(3) Science leads to human progress.
(4) Science and human progress inevitably come into conflict with religion.
(5) For progress to increase, the influence of religion must therefore decrease.
(6) As religious influence decreases, atheism and agnosticism becomes more widespread.
(7) All of this is a direct consequence of what "god" wanted for us, so at this stage of human progress...
(8} GOD WANTS MORE ATHEISTS.


And there you have it.

If "god" exists, then not only does he love atheists... he actually WANTS atheists. Lots of them. His divine plan... whatever that may be... has made this fact crystal clear. And when you consider that the majority of TRULY significant scientific breakthroughs have all been accomplished by people who were NOT a bunch of religious fanatics, then you will once again realize that, at this stage of human progress, the best path for us to take on this leg of our journey is the NON-religious path.

Which is, it would seem, exactly what "god" wants us to do. Get off the religious bus... because we've reached our stop. It's time to get on the airplane now.

So let's all make "god" happy and stop going to church. We don't need it anymore... and "god" is cool with that. It is apparently what he had planned for us all along. So don't worry... you won't be punished... because "god" actually wants you to stop believing in him. As weird as that may sound on the surface, it all makes sense when you dig down into it.

The purpose of this article was to point out that, even if you are a devoutly religious person, it still makes sense to give up your religious beliefs and start thinking in larger and more modern terms.

Because that is precisely what "god" wants all of us to do.  


- Tessera -
  10/01/2012

[Cylnar]

I too am an atheist, with anti-theist sympathies, though most of my family and friends maintain at least a shred of religious belief and I can't just write them off. And I agree with pretty much everything in this article. Like Tess, I don't believe in a god or gods, but if there were some deistic-style Creator who set everything in motion, such a being couldn't possibly care less about the adulation of such pissants as the human race, except as another interesting permutation in the Grand Experiment we call the "universe". Such a being, if it gave even the slightest fuck about its creation, would like to see life fulfilling whatever potential it may have, conquering its own incompetence and moving out into the void, spreading itself and gaining knowledge.

It's possible, even likely, that religion during man's early days allowed him to thrive and was indicative of the inquisitiveness and creativity needed for the human mind to escape the press of immediate day-to-day survival and start pondering intangibles. To a certain extent, it allowed the forming of alliances and the spreading of cultural identity and cohesion, as a given religion spread.

But later, as we starting bumping into folks of different creeds more and more often, religion became an instigating factor in human conflict, driving wars abroad and oppression at home. Eventually, science arose and was proven better than religion at actually answering questions and aiding investigation of man's world. It began to compete with religion and the people who depended on religion for their place in society began to instigate the masses against science. A process which is still happening today.

So science has explained countless things that religion can not, filling in gaps in our knowledge and pointing the way toward new questions to ask, where religion tends to suppress questions. Science, rationality and humanism increasingly displace religion, irrationality and the worship of a "supreme being". Can't happen fast enough, in my opinion. We are experiencing the death throes of religion and starting our journey toward our potential. If we can survive this period (something which is very much in doubt, what with nuclear weapons, runaway global warming and other threats looming on the horizon) our distant descendants will live in a world we can barely imagine, if at all. Humanity is entering its adolescence. Let's see if we can avoid killing ourselves in a fit of teenage angst.

[Tessera]

Humanity is entering its adolescence. Let's see if we can avoid killing ourselves in a fit of teenage angst.

Heh... that's an amusing choice of words and I quite agree with your assessment.

I believe that I mentioned this within my article, but I want to say it again anyway. In this day and age, we've been seeing all sorts of VERY extreme rhetoric and behavior coming from the more zealous religious nuts in this world. And in seeing all of that psycho-godbot-babble taking place all over the world, it would be understandable if some of us were to conclude that the forces of religion were somehow getting stronger.

But they're not... that's the point here. It's just like what Cylnar called it: a fit of teenaged angst, so to speak. The religions of the world are rapidly getting WEAKER with every successive generation. And they are behaving in pretty much the same way as most animals behave when they feel threatened: by baring their teeth and lashing out with their claws. It's as if they were a bunch of caged lions... in a cage of their own design... and suddenly, they see a bunch of lion tamers walking around freely outside of their self-imposed cages. Well this must be very unsettling for them... and so, they're baring their teeth and snarling at the lion tamers. The lion tamers are walking around free, but the religious lions are not... and the lions HATE IT. "Snarrrrrrllllll....!!!!!!!!!"

The classic fear/threat response. That's what we're seeing from the religious zealots. And the fear/threat response is almost always LOUD and VIOLENT. But it is NOT an indication of POWER. More the opposite, frankly... it's an indication of a creature who feels as if he or she is at a disadvantage. That's why they feel threatened and that's why they sometimes go to extreme lengths to call attention to their imagined plight.

[Schu]

You guys have interesting ways of looking at things, and as an Agnostic I find myself agreeing with both of you, and your views.

I don't know if a God, or Gods exist or not, and to be honest...I don't really care. I believe in letting logic and science dictate my view of the world, and the Universe we live in. Human life is too short to be worrying about things that the religious want us to be concentrating on, like making it to an afterlife by praying to their God. Or sitting in a church, or whatever for hours listening to some priest telling us we are all going to go to hell if we don't follow his lords teachings.

We should be concentrating on our lives and the pursuit of knowledge. After all, if there is a God, he gave us intelligence...we should use it to better our lives and the world around us, instead of listening to religious dogma.

What a piece of work is a man.
How noble in reason,
how infinite in faculties,
in form and moving how express and admirable,
In action how like an Angel!
in apprehension how like a god...

~William Shakespeare~

I think Shakespeare would have made a good Agnostic.

I have nothing against religion itself, hell most of my family are very religious, and they are hardworking intelligent people. But I am sick and tired of all the damn wars, religious zealot terrorists trying to kill me, and all of the different religions trying to tell my children what God they are supposed to worship, instead of just teaching the peace that religions claim they are for.

Religion is nothing more than a way for the powerful to maintain power over the masses. Kings and priests have always held positions of power, and they have always used religion to help them keep that power.

[Cylnar]

There are several major components, facets or characteristics of what is commonly and collectively termed "religion". Individuals may not display all of these characteristics; each characteristic is, at this point in history, damaging to greater or lesser extent.

1) Personal feelings: This is an individual's own delusion of a divine presence. Many people simply don't wish to believe that they live in a cold, uncaring universe in which chaos (as in chaos theory) is the main principle. So they fool themselves into thinking they "feel" something which is not actually there. People who attend church regularly or otherwise cling to a specific belief system tend to assign this feeling to the deity professed by their tradition, even if that tradition does not completely fit their own feelings.

Often people professing no religion, but unwilling to term themselves agnostics, let alone atheists, will claim to be "spiritual" or to have "faith" in something beyond human experience. They may justify that by saying we don't/can't know everything there is. When pressed, many of these people may come up with a philosophy resembling 18th-century Deism, or just a fuzzy belief in "something". Many of these people retain superstitions such as the belief in jinxes ("knock on wood"), supernatural manifestations such as "ghosts" and other magical thinking.

The harm in personal feelings of a divine presence, absent the effects of organized religion or a dogma, lie simply in the fact that the person is using such feelings as a crutch, rather than facing the truth of existence as it is: that you are here for no reason other than that your parents fucked; that you are nothing but a few score pounds of complexly interacting chemicals; that your life has no inherent purpose, other than the one you decide (or do not decide) for yourself; that there is no one who loves you, other than the people (and maybe pets) who actually do; and that your few decades of fleshly existence is all you get - death is the end.

2) Dogma: This is a preformed set of beliefs that a believer is required to profess wholesale. Not all religions or churches are heavily dogmatic; New Age and neo-pagan belief systems, and many Eastern religions, tend to be fairly flexible in practice and/or have only a minimal few core beliefs that must be adhered to. It's the Abrahamic, Western religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) that have extensive and often inflexible dogma, that has over the centuries driven the latter two into ruthless worldwide expansion at swordpoint.

The harm of dogma, of course, is its inherent inflexibility, intolerance, and inability to be adapted readily to a changing world. Anyone who does not believe as you do is considered wrong at best, often inferior, and servants of evil at worst. Thus, dogma is probably the largest driver of religious conflict - unbelievers must be converted, enemies must be destroyed, etc.

3) Organized religion: This refers to religious organizations, often large and monolithic, that often wield political and/or economic power, or at least great influence, over nations, peoples and history. Organized religions generally profess some sort of dogma, though dogma can exist, and even exert great influence, without significant organization. For example, the largest and most widespread sect of Islam, Sunniism, is virtually unorganized. Imams are declared to be imams by other imams after a test of Koranic scholarship, and they have no "official" authority (because there is no structure to provide such authority) other than the influence they wield over their followers. (Shiaism, on the other hand, believes in a strict bloodline priesthood of "ayatollahs" organized to the level of "Grand Ayatollah").

The Catholic church, of course, has cast its pall over about 1500 years of recent Western history, owning land, collecting tithes, donations and indulgences, crowning kings, and wielding the power of excommunication (worse than a death sentence, a hell sentence, if you're a believer, that is) and gleefully buggering altar boys for "god" knows how long. Its influence, though waning these last 500 or so years since the Anglican split and the Protestant Reformation, is still felt in most of the Western world. Here in the U.S. we've developed a sort of pan-Christian alliance/apparatus under the aegis of the Republican party (though it wasn't always this way).

Obviously the harm of organized religion comes from the power and influence such an organization can wield and the wealth it can gather, which is used to further the aims of the organization, and naturally works its way upward, thus mirroring, reinforcing and even justifying the inequality of the society at large.

The point of all this drivel is to illustrate and back up what Tessera, myself and Schu have said above. People can have their little personal beliefs, I guess, if it helps them sleep at night. Most of us have friends and loved ones who for various reasons have not shed the last vestiges (or more) of religious belief. Most of them are pretty harmless - I certainly don't know anybody prone to fanatical behavior. It would be better if everyone could let that crap go, and someday maybe it will happen. We non-believers (atheists and agnostics) are leading the way.

[Tessera]

Whenever I am asked WHY people continue to cling to religion... despite all of the scientific data which directly conflicts with religion... my answer has always been this:


FEAR, THAT'S WHY


And the deepest, most overriding fear that all humans share is our fear of death.

I often tell people that it takes great courage to be an atheist. Not simply because atheists are often ostracized or even attacked by religious nuts, but mainly because it takes great courage to accept that when we die, it's ALL OVER. No more thoughts... no more perceptions... no more existence of any kind. No heaven, no hell, no angels, no yummy young virgins. No final reward.

Just death and decay and the end of your individual mind.

Religion teaches people that when they die, there will be some sort of magical existence beyond physical death. Well hot damn... who wouldn't want to believe in that..?! Religion is like a lifelong drug that takes away... or at least diminishes... your fear of death. The scariest thing that any human can face has now been reduced to being some sort of mystical transition. Not really death at all... just a new beginning of sorts.

And this is why people cling to religion, despite its ridiculousness. Fear will almost always overcome rational thinking and common sense.

The fear of death is what keeps religion alive. And it also tells you that every single religious person in the world today is, at a very deep and fundamental level, a gutless coward who is unable to face the reality of their own existence. I am sorry to put it so harshly, but it is the truth regardless. You can be the toughest special forces commando in the world... but if you still cling to religion, then you still have no spine in the end. And if you didn't have any religious beliefs, then it'll sure be a lot harder to be a hero and charge into combat... knowing that if you die, your existence is truly OVER. Where it counts the most, religious people have no balls. End of story.