Faith, Hope, and Charity

Some further musings on the nature of Atheism. Mine, anyway.

No one ever hated because God told them to hate, no mater what such people may say. No one ever killed, maimed, or tortured because any supernatural being—real or imagined—commanded it, no matter how often you hear that claim. There is no act of bigotry, no act of unspeakable violence, no act of intolerable cruelty that did not happen because the person wielding the weapons (or commanding those who did so) wanted it to happen.

These things happen because human beings make them happen, and because other human beings do not object to them happening. Or do not object strongly enough.

I am not saying this because I don’t believe in supernatural beings (though, in fact, I don’t), I am saying this because I do not believe in blaming some unseen entity, real or imagined, for actions of people, even actions that no truly moral or ethical person would ever condone.

But by the same reasoning, neither can we credit the gods (or whatever) with the products of our better natures. It may be (I hope) that the urge to benefit all is as strong as the urge to exploit, the urge to help as strong as the urge to harm, the urge to create as strong as the urge to destroy.

Though the evidence for our better natures being as strong as our more base passions is scant, I find myself perpetually hoping that it is so, believing against any evidence to the contrary that it may indeed be true. Is that belief unreasonable? I am not the one to say.

I believe in our better natures because I see evidence of them, even though I do not see enough. I see that we can be better than a society founded on greed has shaped us to be. I see that there are people who will sacrifice greatly, even to their very lives, to make this world a better place. Far fewer than I’d like, fewer than we need, but they’re there. And I hope, against the preponderance of evidence, that a better world can be made if only we would pay heed to our better selves.

So tell me again how Atheists have no faith.

The Blues Viking
The opinions expressed here are mine and if you don’t like them you can get your own damn blog.