by Kevin Hamilton

Created on: July 16, 2009   Last Updated: July 20, 2009

Atheism as I see it, a life without religion, is most definitely a choice. Here is a simple metaphor to help explain how I made the decision myself.

We are all currently on this path of 'Life'. At some point, each of us came across a fork in the road, called Religion. We were faced with two roads, the Religious Road......and the non-religious road. You remember, next to each road was a sign with a description. This is true for everyone. The difference, is how we see them.

I was raised in a Catholic family, and for the first 16 years of my life ( today I'm 19 ) I attended church regularly. When I first came to these roads I was young, but I remember it pretty well. I looked at the description of the Religious Path. It was so big and shiny. The letters were gold, and the words they made up weren't even important. I looked past the sign to the horizon. There were birds singing the most wonderful songs. There were people dancing in fields of flowers. It was beautiful. Not just the scenery, but the promise that in the end, everything could be as perfect as I wanted it to be.

I was so mesmerized that I forgot there was another path, and I took off running to join all of the other happy people. I never saw that 'other' path for myself, but I heard people talk about it. How it was so dark and lonely. I didn't want to think about it, and I just couldn't imagine what kind of person would actually navigate it.

Well as I got older my thoughts became more complex. By the time I reached my mid-teens I started to really wonder if I had made the right choice all those years ago.

I finally decided to go back, after all, I never even looked at that 'other' road. Upon arrival, the first thing I noticed was that the sign for the Religious Road - the road I had been traveling on all these years - had changed. I saw all of the same promises, but it was no longer big and shiny. Just a plain old wooden sign. Without the chrome finish and gold lettering, the promises seemed just as cheap as the wood they were carved in.

So I looked at the 'other' sign. The one next to the path of no religion. It too looked very plain, but it was different. The wording on the 'Religion' sign is, well.....lengthy. Its not just the promises, there are so many rules and guidelines as well. On this one, there was only one word, 'Proceed'.

I was confused at first, I thought to myself, "That's it?". Then I realized it fully. Proceed without cheap promises. Proceed without limitations. Proceed with

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