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Atheism & Agnosticism

Good without God: Secular humanism and morality

As cynical and disillusioned as I am regarding what I've grown to understand about this ineffable experience that is existence, I have recently begun taking notice of the majesty of it all-the brilliance that I've overlooked for so many years. Too often does my intrinsic pessimism cast a shroud of obscurity upon the extraordinary features of this vast expanse of space and time and all that it entails. I feel as though my intellect has finally begun to compensate if only slightly for my undesired awareness of the superstition and mendacity at the crux of every society and all religion. I've finally concluded that reality is more astounding and magical than any antiquated collection of self-interested unapprised text could ever be. I'm becoming conscious of the secret that the insipid institution so cleverly withholds from us the astonishing and relatively obvious chronological cycle of life as we know it, eclipsed by the rigid ideology of traditional American ethos and long-established theological principles.

I realize now that there is great value in what I'm working toward with my constant speculation and obsessive analyzing. I understand why my incessant thoughts distract me from nearly everything I try to do. I understand why I'm tormented by my own unanswered questions. I'm in constant search of information, knowledge, answers. And at the heart of it all is an unquenchable thirst for a better understanding. Of myself, of other individuals, of society; of the world, the universe, and whatever lies beyond.
I cannot believe in a god because I am a skeptic I ask questions before I draw conclusions. The primary function of humanity's conception of divinity is to provide answers to questions that we are unable to answer ourselves; if something is too difficult or complex for us to understand, "it must be an act of God." And that's enough to keep most of us content. However, there is a small minority of us who recognize that the concept of religion exists primarily to answer the unanswerable. Over time we've come to understand a great deal as a species. And as advances in research and technological steadily expand our capability to scientifically explain life's complexities, the theological justification consistently finds itself in stark opposition to the empirical data the science, the evidence, the truth.
Growing up in a society founded on Christian ideology can present enormous obstacles to nonbelievers. It is often


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Good without God: Secular humanism and morality

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Good without God: Secular humanism and morality

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