First the conditions of existence must be imposed. AKA Indoctrination. Ideally when the subject is as young as possible. Once the parameters are set there can then be only one "answer".
It works somewhat like this........
The questions are set, and the only possible answer is then given.
Basically, totally circular, revolving. The indoctrinated inside the circle. Finally unable to see out. Enclosed in a "reality" of their own making. Calling it the "truth that sets us free". Freedom has never been so restricted!
Someone has asked "saved from what?" Good question. Maybe true salvation is to be saved from such a fate, allowing Reality to truly be itself.
@Matt85 No I wouldn't. I'd be happy to go. I agree entirely with what the British actor and writer Stephen Fry said on the matter to an Irish priest.
Gay Byrne: ... suppose it's all true and you walk up to the pearly gates and you are confronted by God. What would Stephen Fry say to him, her or it?
Stephen Fry: I will basically (it's known as theodicy I think) I'll say, "Bone cancer in children? What's that about? How dare you! How dare you create a world where there is such misery that is not our fault! It's not right. It is utterly, utterly evil. Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid god who creates a world that is so full of injustice and pain. That's what I'd say.
And you think you're going to get in?
Oh, but I wouldn't want to. I wouldn't want to get in on his terms. They're wrong.
Now, if I died and it was Pluto, Hades and if it were the twelve Greek gods, then I'd have more truck with it because the Greeks didn't pretend not to be human in their appetites, and in their capriciousness and their unreasonableness; they didn't present themselves as being all-seeing, all-wise, all-kind, all-munificent; because the god who created this universe (if it was created by God) is, quite clearly, a maniac - utter maniac, totally selfish. We have to spend our life on our knees thanking him? What kind of god would do that?
Yes, the world is very splendid, but it also has in it insects whose whole life-cycle is to burrow into the eyes of children and make them blind. They eat outwards from the eyes. Why did you do that? Why? Why did you do that to us? You could easily have made a creation where that didn't exist. It is simply not acceptable.
So, you know, atheism is not just about not believing there's a god - but, on the assumption there is one, what kind of god is it? It's perfectly apparent that he is monstrous, utterly monstrous, and deserves no respect whatsoever. The moment you banish him your life becomes simpler, purer, cleaner - more worth living in my opinion.
