I Am An Atheist

I have grown up in a family who are in no way at all religious. My dad thinks religion is ridiculous and is a "con". That does not reflect my own opinions about religion. I feel like you can be whatever religion you want to be, and I am respectful, as long as you don't try to force me to "convert".

I do not believe in a God. Honestly, I find it irritating when people pray instead of actually doing something to help someone. Because I don't believe in a God, I think that prayer is pretty useless. When I see people pray, it looks to me like they are just talking to themselves. When someone says they'll pray for me, I tell them that it's very kind of them, but on the inside I'm thinking that there's no point because talking to yourself will not unleash a "power" for something else to happen.

I don't think someone created the world, I agree with the Big Bang. Matter exploded and rock clumped together to form the Earth we live on. I see no other explanation for how we got here. I also understand that there are things we cannot prove, and I accept that. I know we will likely never know where the first particles came from, but I don't feel the need to make up some mythical being to have an explanation. I don't need to know how or why things got here.

Religion makes very little sense to me. While I express my opinions, I hope nobody thinks I am being disrespectful to those who are deeply religious. I am fascinated by those who have such a deep belief in a religion, and all of the stories that I would hope they know could never have really happened. It is somewhat relaxing to know that some people can remain so at peace with their beliefs and not be affected by the opinions of the rest of the world.

I am spiritual, though. I believe in an afterlife and reincarnation. But not Heaven or Hell. Just that the death of our physical body is not the end. I believe we have a soul, or something that makes us human. I've heard several pathologists say that when they examine a corpse, whatever made them human wasn't there anymore, because they were just a body. I think I got this view from my mum, because she believes in guardian angels and spirits and things like that. Whilst I am not devout to this view, I accept it. I believe there's something else when we die. I've also read many stories about children revealing memories about real people and real events that they could never have known, as if they were them. This makes me believe in reincarnation.

I also believe that my views on spirituality may lack logic, because it doesn't make sense to have something invisible following you, looking after you, because so many people get seriously hurt. This makes me doubt the existence of spirits. I know many religious people will say my view on spirits is the same as theirs about a God. That's why I say I am doubting all my views. I don't doubt, however, my view that there is no God. I doubt my views about spirits and souls, because it's illogical. I do not mean to offend anyone, but I do think it is illogical to believe in a God or to believe the stories told in the holy books of religions when they hold no realistic possibility of ever having occurred.

I will not apologise or argue with anyone over my views. These are my opinions. Some people may find me illogical to not believe in a God, to be "closed-minded" over life, and I accept that. But truth be told, you will never know the answer, and nor will I. There's no need to fight about who is right, because we will never know.

Thank you for reading and respecting my opinions.