No belief is practically a crime?
You know, I was casually musing to myself about what it is, exactly, that believers (for this example I will use Christianity) have against those of us that don't believe on command.
After all millions and millions of us human beings go about our daily lives trying to be the best we can. We work, we support our families, many of us try to donate to food shelves, we give help to our neighbors and many of us have never been arrested for law infractions or even had perking tickets.
Most of us never were in gangs, did or dealt drugs, skipped school, cheated on tests, beat up other students and so on. We all try to do good NOT because a book said so but because that is what we should be doing; it is just how we live regardless of whether or not we believe in a god or not.
But then it suddenly hit me, that is precisely what many believers have against us non-believers; we have the audacity to NOT believe. It doesn't matter that our character is good and sound, it doesn't matter that we think kindness and compassion should be the theme of our lives, it doesn't even matter whether or not we are basically good or bad; it is all about our free choice on what to believe. Nothing else.
Many "believers" can meet a person, get along great and all that jazz but when they find out their new friend is a non-believer then they run away acting like they just contracted a disease or met some sort of evil alien.
For example, I try hard to be decent; I never skipped, school, cheated on tests, did or sold drugs, I did not go around boinking anything that moved or had kids out of wedlock. I have no criminal history, never hurt others or wrote bad checks. I work, pay my taxes, try to donate to the food shelf and the humane society and look after my neighbors house and kitties is need be. I try to be kind and compassionate and not let myself sink into the morass of hate and bigotry.
While I do not necessarily subscribe to the idea of souls or reincarnation I still, nonetheless, feel that life is not some cheap commodity to be bought, sold, exploited then discarded whenever it is no longer of use to us. I abhor the idea of abortion yet equally abhor the idea of denying other the freedom to obtain birth control. The idea of hurting children and animals makes me sick to my stomach.
I am by no means perfect because no one is. Not because of some "original sin" but because perfection is a impossibility; it is subjective and arbitrary. I try to do good every day because that is who I am YET I am looked down on because of one thing, I refuse to believe on command. I refuse to believe in a god.
So basically the message is that I can be as good as I can be but I will go to hell for refusing to believe but on the other hand I could be a abuser, murderer, thief and all that bad stuff but as long as I believe in god then it is all good.
Basically it is a thought crime by many believers to choose to NOT believe and that is the single reason us non-believers are hated and looked down on.
In the end, if your belief system can compel you to look down on others, including your own family, simply for not believing on command or as demanded then I wonder what else you can be compelled to do.
13 Comments
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now