religion has been an enormous sore spot with me for years since I painfully lost my own. it is only in recent reflection that i have discovered the enormous beauty of religion and it's practicality. i have gained a kind of respect for religion and it's great offerings to the masses. this has lead me to almost feel a blessed tie with the elite of this world in not being constrained by such.
i have a great deal of pride in being allowed into what i feel is the elite group of atheists inhabiting this dear planet earth. please do not take my reference to "elite" as a lack of modesty; it is more a fortunate happenstance that we, atheists, probably have some biological neuro-aphasia to the god-piece that has allowed us the clarity to see beyond. i consider it elite only because it is so much more beautiful a vision than any religion could ever project. i tend to believe that the belief in god has huge evolutionary advantages over the lack of the belief, and that is why it is so enormously fortunate and paradoxical to have my current perspective.
please don't mistake my pride as lack of modesty either. i am very aware, as are most true atheists that anything is possible, and even an exact semantical argument like a god/creator archetype could be valid. the problem of arguing your point as an atheist is that your debater will never understand until they are allowed to see the same perspective, which is an extremely hard conclusion to come to. it actually requires hearing out many different perspectives to their fullest extent. at the end of the day, we, the atheist, believe that there is just not any valid reason to either need a "god" or to prove a "god's" existence, by any common definition of the word. as the word atheist breaks down, "a-" none, or lacking; "theist" belief in a god, i simply lack this belief. more specifically, per the school of David Hume, i have followed a statistical form of skepticism, in which all things have possibility, some just have higher probability than others. as a great peer once told me, please add a question mark to the end of every statement i make; some just have smaller question marks than others.
as a last argument, i must admit that it is absurd to the normal human being to not follow a religion; to not believe in a god. it is truly absurd. when i first gained my understanding, i found it so hard not to argue with every person i met that the belief in god was silly; how could they believe in such a ridiculous concept. ironically, i had only grown up believing it whole-heartedly myself for 21 years. why did i really think it was so silly of a belief? i just wanted others to join me on my beautiful deserted "atheistic" island. the takers were few and far between, and i have since come to believe that we are a small congregation of human beings on this planet. the few that can handle such a truth without malfunctioning. i have also found that the issue is not a problem of intelligence, but maybe an intense fear of the unknown. intelligence and logic seem to break down in the face of losing all that propagates the stability of one's mind. those that i have talked with that grew up with this atheistic world-view have no impedance to the problems it provides the "believers". it is merely impossible to change the basis of your entire structure of reality after it has settled for so many years, without completely dismantling and questioning everything you have ever been told or believed. by the way, i had to do this, and it was not convenient, nor easy; however, i am so much better for doing so.
the downside is i am alone in this world. no sense of solidarity or commonality with anyone i meet. i find it incredibly hard to find anyone that shares my beliefs, and that is sad to me. i enjoy discussion of the religiously derived questions , "where did i come from?", "why am I here?", and "where am I going?" just as much as any other human being; yet I have no one with my world-view to discuss with. where are all of you at? i have read about you in articles and books many a time, but here in Atlanta, GA, i seem to be all alone.
for those of you are ready to take the leap, here is the punchline: "god is merely the easy answer to all of your unanswered or difficult questions." in effect, the "god" answer allows you to merely pass over the difficult questions, and pass on all of your fears to the hope that someone else has got it all worked out.
