by Jacob Walker

Created on: September 09, 2009

Being an atheist is a choice I made when I was very young. I was raised a Roman Catholic, went to Sunday school for many years, I've read the entire Left Behind novel series, and even go to church with some of my family on holidays. However, I do not share in their nature of religion, nor care to ever do so. I make it a point not to openly challenge an individual's preference in practicing organized religion. Since the dawn of man, human beings had the need to believe in something greater than them. We lacked the scientific understanding that we benefit from today. I compare early man to children. As we grow up, some of us need to subscribe in fantasy to build certain traits. Most of us know how it felt to have an imaginary friend, believe in Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, or even the super-human abilities of our parents. Everything seemed larger than life at such an early age. If we had not believed in such things, children would have an easier time accepting reality at an older age. We find it hard to explain to children how babies are born, or why beloved pets die. Mankind still has a hard time accepting hardships in today's world. People often wonder why bad things happen. The human race has become increasingly less dependent on religion in recent decades, and I applaud that.

I agree everyone needs to find the ability to discover and deal with the questions and answers of life. Religion continues to rob humanity of the responsibility to make our own choices. Society has not only established rules for morale behavior, but the capacity to live an independent life. Organized religion has become less static in the world of constant scientific breakthroughs. No longer does religion as an entirety preach with absolute certainty. Religion has given way to the changes in society and the need for independent thought. Frankly, atheism is the belief in nothing. It is the act casting aside humanity's redundant, antiquated, and irrational upbringing. To put simply, atheism is the future. I say this not because I wish people could one day live without organized religion, but because it is inevitable. There is no stopping evolution, it is human nature. Just as children accept the fact that Santa never existed, so will human beings, accept that God was conjured up to protect ourselves from the truth.

Religion is a dying practice. Those who practice religion and defend it can fight all they want. Wars will be started and ended. People will suffer. In the end, our future generations will look back on their ancestors and be astounded at our immaturity. We are only several hundred years ahead of believing the world was flat. We once thought Gods controlled every aspect of existence. I am sure before people outgrow religion, we will learn we are not alone in the universe. At which time, we can look back and think how small we were to believe in an all powerful creator. We should not give credit to God for our accomplishments. My life and the effort I put into it are to my own credit. That is the reason I am an atheist.

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