Atheism

I honestly can't say how I started thinking about this topic a few minutes ago, but I felt it was something I needed to say. If you spoke to me about anything other than religion, you'd probably get the feeling that I'm an agnostic. If you spoke to me about the supernatural, you certainly wouldn't be able to think that I'm an atheist.

Basically, I have a very open mind regarding the rules of existence. Moral laws, matters of ethics, science, etc, if it's got a ring of truth, I'll be willing to believe it. Hell, I'm willing to concede that Intelligent Design is, by and large, somewhat reasonable. It's more of a sidenote to the theory of evolution than an alternate theory, but it doesn't feel entirely wrong to me that there could be a guiding force to evolution. I don't think it's really a counterpoint to evolution at all. If the fundies understood what they were peddling, they'd probably never be able to sleep at night.

Which is too bad, because I'd like for them to realize just who they are and what they're doing and never be able to reconcile themselves again.

Anyway, the point is that I'm an atheist. Very little of my doubts about the rest of the universe have been able to dissuade me from that position. I don't hate the concept of God, or of gods, or those who worship either. I fully embrace the fact that I have faith in the fact that there's no god. I even don't feel it's conceding anything when I'm interested in the supernatural, and am willing to believe that things like ghosts can exist.

I mean, the belief that everything that's happened so far is a completely random series of events (although they're not quite that random, considering that most of the events are effects of previous events) doesn't preclude a belief in things beyond scientific comprehension. There could even be perfectly logical explanations for a real ghost, even if we don't have the capability to understand it at this point in time.

That said, it seems incongruous that I'd believe that the supernatural could be real, and part of a natural process, yet not believe in any god. If I were talking to myself (as I'm apt to do), I'd probably label me an agnostic.

But I'm definitely not. I just can't believe that there is any higher power. I think and think, but there is nothing to suggest that there are real gods, anywhere. I mean, I can believe that there might be beings that are outside the normal natural spectrum. I just can't believe that they're anything beyond other life forms, basically in the same boat as you or me.

It sort of starts with how our concepts of the gods have changed over time. I mean, just the switch from polytheism to monotheism. That's a big shift, and yet it happened as a result of human struggles. I can't help but notice that every time in history that this shift occurs, it could just as easily be humans using their god to unite disparate groups as it could be the god himself doing it. Every time the preferred mythology changes, it's through a human vessel. That's suspicious. Not to mention the fact that, despite apparently being great beings who create and control the planet, they can't seem to keep their stories straight at all in different portions of the planet. There's really barely any similarities between the Norse and Shinto mythologies.

Then there's a slight problem with history. You see, for beings that are supposed to be present in everything we do, there's a surprising lack of involvement after recorded history begins. Most of what has been recorded of the acts of the gods are things that can occur naturally. Events that can be attributed to any god dissipate the closer we get to modern times. Now, I'm sure someone will say that this could be God testing us, but it seems like there's a very perfect inverse correlation between what we know about the world, and how many events we ascribe to divinity.

I'd say more, but it's 2:30 AM where I am, and I need to get some sleep...