Dancing Lessons From God.

…are you fucking kidding me?

People cite many different incentives for religous beliefs: to give life meaning, to provide hope for something better, a vice for addiction, many because its just what they’ve always done. Then there are those who take it to the next level and use religion as a reason to act with morality. These are the folks who also use the argument “without God, there would be no morality.” This is an opinion that I feel necessary to address.

To say that without God there would be no morality is to imply that if it were proven that there is no God, one would simply forget all morality and rape, kill, and steal at his or her will. Does this sound about right as to what you, the reader, would do in such a situation? To claim that God is the prime incentive for morality is one of the most narrow-minded and irresponsible arguments I have ever heard. It is astounding to me that anybody could have so little faith in humanity.

Also, I would like to point out that religion oftentimes does not hold up to its promise of morality. As the late George Carlin said “God is the leading cause of death.” Between the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust, the Serbian Genocide, the recent shootings in Norway, and countless other atrocities, more people have been murdered in the name of religion than for anything else (and the ones I have named are strictly Christian acts). Its very rare to hear of religious persecution (especially in such an extreme) committed by secular people (though I will not deny it has happened before).

I, personally, am an Atheist. I have never committed (or had any desire to commit) any violent crimes against any sentient being. I don’t make fun of people for being religious and I would never try to influence somebody to Atheism against their will (unlike many Christians who focus so heavily on “witnessing” to us secular folk). I act morally on the basis of not wanting to hurt other people. I act morally of my own accord. I do not need God to be a good person. I certainly don’t want to be raped or killed or stolen from, so I do not do so to others.

Many say that Atheists lead sad lives, never knowing the grace of God. Atheist say that it is the religious that we should pity; we spend our lives doing as we please, being good for the sake of being good, while the religious act morally oftentimes simply because they are afraid of the threats of eternal Hell.

I choose not to live in fear. I choose to accept that nothing of humanity is permanent, either physicially or otherwise. I chooe to accept that nothing I do could possibly change anything in the grand scheme of things, but somehow my smallest action could influence millions at the same time. I accept that the Earth is just a rock flying through space. I accept that if humans go extinct right now, it would not really matter (in fact, it may be the best thing for this planet. I accept that there is not, never has been, and never will be anything special about me, anything I say, hear, or do, anyone I know, anything I find, or even about life itself; we mean absolutely nothing to the universe. I choose to accept all of this, and to embrace my insignifigance. After all, insignifigance is all any of us really has.

(via gaypriestt)

(via patchubs)

Clarence Darrow (1938)

(Source: sickeninglyliberal)