We want to avoid saying beliefs when talking about Atheism. Why are we afraid to label our non-belief as a belief? Because when you label something as a belief or belief system there are some negative connotations that come alongside it:

• The stench of religion
• The erasure of individuality
• Group Morals
• Easily Manipulated Political Agendas

All that being said, I find it illogical to place those without firm beliefs in any category. How can you slap a broad label on millions of individuals with completely different viewpoints? You shouldn’t, but as many of you know; it happens everyday. You wouldn’t label “not collecting stamps” as a hobby or “bald” as a hair color, but it would seem as though many others may not have the same scruples doing similarly. Are there any associations or assumptions that can be made about those which do in fact remove God from the equation of existence? The lack of religious belief is the lack of the Arguments from Supreme Authority which attempt to interfere in even the most personal and private pieces of our lives; instilling guilt and fear. There is no absolute about any group. There are exceptions to everything it seems. Just because one is an atheist does not even guarantee that they accept any scientific explanation of anything.

One could dismiss it all and remain content with the understanding that we cannot know or trust in ill-motivated and government owned men. We can hope at least that there are enough checks and balances and the requirement of verifiable evidence to protect us at some levels from the establishment. There is no way to know at this time what occurred prior to singularity, but surely even this must have originated somewhere. Perhaps it is my limited understanding of this topic that makes this such an unattainable answer. Perhaps it is because it cannot be positively known. And if religions are correct, perhaps it is not for us to know. If you consider this life an experience, and an opportunity to learn the difference of good and evil than philosophically you can rest easy. If you assume that everything will be explained upon death, than the now might just become more important because you realize that you will have eternity for cosmic pursuits. The now could be spent doing good for your fellow humans in the now and for the future. There are a few issues I have with this method of thinking as well.

Whether you admit it or not you are making assumptions. Religions, holy scriptures are all tainted by man. Men with motivations for power and control. As a lowly peon you are not privyed to truth. You are force-fed what is determined you can handle, because you are stupid and irrational; like stampeding buffalo. Who is to know what is real and what is manifested in our best interest? As one who has not researched all areas of discovery first hand, I could not with all honesty tell you I am certain of anything. I have not witnessed the birth or death of a star, galaxy, nebula firsthand. I have not reconstructed the human genome or split atoms in the storage room of my third floor apartment. I accept that I simply do not have the time or ability to encompass all areas of understanding in my lifetime. There are too many societal pressures that do not allow for a life of exploration and understanding. Here in the now we must focus on where we are and where we are going. America could eat you alive. Ask our homless millions. The forgotten and ill-labeled. The used and spent. The erased.

My Christian roots have certainly affected my way of thinking. A total disconnect has certainly not occurred for me. A desire for immortality, the need for greater meaning and importance still haunts me. Perhaps my thinking is too expansive because I require something more. If you consider existence at such an expanded perspective it is easy to feel small. If even our Universe must die than all pursuits are ultimately futile. But we do not exist on a timescale that large. In existence as we know it humans encompass less than 1%. But you could examine things from an alternative perspective. We are the universe. The same particles that have inhabited and explored the universe are within us all. Stardust. Organic elements such as carbon(from methane) carried here on comets whose reach stretch throughout our galaxy and farther are within us. When we die we shall return to such simpler places to perhaps become a piece of something or someone else. We become our parents because we are in some sense our parents, we are but an abberated clone of the combination. No matter how we attempt to disconnect ourselves from who our parents and even our society are we cannot escape because we are at some level, the same.

Deism, the belief in a god outside of religion. A personal relationship with whatever force is responsible for our creation, and what we are ultimately a piece of. To some degree this way of thinking is still illogical, because we cannot know. There is no verifiable evidence or any logical method with known evidence to assume that a creator exists. Where understanding stops, god is born. The problem is where in the chain, the equation, is god necessary? The more we know, the more we realize how little we truly know. The god concept, as far as I can tell, is the imagination of man in full effect. Internal debates wage inside many of us. Logic and desire conflict and struggle to overcome one another. Personally, there is no way to be 100% sure of anything; but as long as we remember to practice altruism and remember that we are just a piece of the whole we may just make our ignorance a little easier to tolerate. Irrationality on a theological or philosophical level is irrelevant unless it leads you to negative interactions with your fellow human. None are valid. All are valid. What’s the difference?