AN ATHEIST'S RELIGION, AN ATHEIST'S BELIEFS

If you're one of those people who just don't, won't or can't 'get' that atheism is NOT a religion and that atheists DON'T have a set of beliefs, instead of calling you an idiot, I'll play the game your way for a few minutes.

I've just made myself the founding member and the chief primate of The Church of the Rational Human. And I've written my church's creed. It's only in draft form at the moment and I may -- or may not -- be motivated to give it more thought and polish it a bit. But, dear misguided reader, this has been written just for YOU, so I do hope you get some satisfaction from it.

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THE FIRST ATHEIST CREED OF THE CHURCH OF THE RATIONAL HUMAN

I believe that we do not live before we are born and that we shall not live after we die.

I believe humans have no free will but that not everyone has the courage or the intelligence to face life with that knowledge; there may be some things it is better for some people to not know.

I believe all religions evolved out of fear and human need to control the conditions of their own and others’ lives.

I believe that this is a pitiless universe and that only those who remain ignorant of suffering, or for whom the knowledge of suffering is unbearable, can imagine it to be the work of a loving creator.

I believe that in a just world every human could and would be born equal and with equal rights to a happy life.

I believe this is an unjust world where those who think themselves superior by virtue of their wealth, status, nationality, religion, politics, gender and colour believe they have the right and the duty to limit the freedoms and rights of others even to the point of death.

I believe theologists and religious apologists are locked into an increasingly desperate attempt to validate their views against humans’ increasing store of knowledge and rationality.

I believe that terrorism is a broad church, that fundamentalists of all stripes present a clear and present danger to human happiness and survival and that education based on rational and scientific principles remains the greatest hope for the future of the world.

I believe all belief in the mystical and supernatural is mere superstition; this includes (but is by no means limited to):

Karma, reincarnation, homeopathy, crystal healing, reiki, auras, souls, spirits, ghosts, angels, sprites, leprechauns, fairies, tarot cards, fortune telling, horoscopes and astrology, crystal balls, prayer, miracles, faith healing, aromatherapy, chakras, feng shui, palmistry, phrenology, voodoo.