I am not a religious man.
I have no particular dislike of any religion. I’ve met people of many faiths through my career in software quality assurance, travelling across the globe. I’ve read quite a bit about different religions, and find each of them have valuable teachings that can help to make adherents a better person. I’ve found every religion has arcane rituals that make no sense to me in present days – the Catholic prohibition against eating meat on Fridays likely stems from the slaughter of animals on Saturday ahead of the day of rest on Sunday…. well, don’t eat that meat come next Friday, because refrigeration is several centuries away. I can admire people who pursue their own religious beliefs with easy acceptance, so long as they are not hurting me or other people. To borrow a phrase from the United States, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, in that order and never at anyone else’s expense. Your pursuit of happiness should never infringe on my life or liberty, nor should it harm my pursuit of happiness. That can be challenging, but I generally find it easy to simply remove myself from unpleasant situations.
All this to say that religion is something that I accept in others, but that has not led me to any meaning in my own life. I’ve known very smart people who are deeply religious, who were religious and ceased being religious, who were not religious and became religious, and who have never been religious and likely never will be. These are all fine.
Those who believe in something greater than themselves often also believe in themselves. Good for them! We all have our opinions and thoughts that make us unique and valuable and special.
In all the universe, and in all the galaxies, there is only one Earth and only one you. That’s awesome and humbling and wonderful.
Unless you try to wreck my happiness by telling me I’ve been living my life wrong. Or if you, as an elected politician, decide your faith should be used as a cudgel against those who disagree with you.
I’ve seen too much from every religion I’ve investigated to find one without a history of horrible events that turns me away. I’ve met wonderful people from every faith, but it’s not for me. I’ll take a scientific explanation and use science as guidance every time I need to make a choice, and it turns out I’m still a pretty nice guy (or so my colleagues, friends, and family tell me).
And that’s enough.
