Why this? Why now?
Because religious imposition on our country must be defied and I want to do my part.
During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, I wrote a short book, Morality Made Me an Atheist: Calling BS on William Barr, the Attorney General of the United States of America.
On this day in 2024, the only part of it that is out of date is the name of the US Attorney General. There is about to be a new Attorney General who is likely to be both more corrupt and a more hypocritical religious zealot than he.
The first purpose of this substack is to make the book available as a free download. Click on the link below to read it as a pdf. (I’m working on an epub version and will post the audiobook soon. Still grappling with how substack works)
I have been an atheist since childhood, and an activist most of my adult life, but I never before felt the need to make my disbelief in “God” the subject of my activism. I do now.
Atheism is simply the belief that there are no supernatural beings, whether called gods, demons or anything else, that control our lives. I have heard the religious claim that atheism is just another religion. It isn’t. But it is a “belief” in that no one has proven, and likely can never prove, that no such beings exist. However, there is no proof that they do exist; there are only people claiming that they do. Were there any actual evidence of “God” every atheist would become a believer.
What would that proof look like? It would have to be an actual miracle - a documented occurrence for which there is zero chance it was the result of a natural process/human action, something impossible that could be easily witnessed by everyone.
There are always people claiming to have heard the voice of “God” or that some other-worldly being appeared to them. I have never had such an experience in over 60 years of life. Were it to happen now, I would be worried that I had developed a brain tumor or other serious health condition. So, I would demand of this allegedly powerful being the following miracle:
All over this world there are people who have lost limbs through illness, accident or war. Instantly and immediately, restore all their missing limbs. When that happens, I’ll believe.
I have also heard the religious claim that atheists “hate God.” The usual atheist response goes something like, “We don’t hate god. Why would we bother to hate something that doesn’t exist?”
Speaking for myself, I consider that response to be a sort of gaslighting. Yes, I hate “God” and what I mean is, if the God you believe in actually existed, I would hate him. If he had all that power, why the fuck hasn’t he restored all those people’s missing limbs? If I had that power, I would have done it already. The God you worship is morally repugnant, and it was disgust at the behavior and proclamations of “God” that ultimately led me to atheism.
I assure you that there are scientists, who are probably atheists since most are, who are trying to figure out how humans can regrow limbs. There are reptiles and marine life that can. And if one lives in an actual moral society, and this knowledge is discovered, it will be available to everyone regardless of ability to pay because the reward beyond price will be to see the relief of suffering your efforts have achieved.
Furthermore, your religion is increasingly being revealed as a refuge for moral monsters. I realize that there are many good and truly moral people who also follow your religion, but it is a big problem when your clergy are the worst people. These people, usually men, are held up as the emissaries of “God’s word” and are simultaneously sexually molesting children. If your “God” existed, the fact that he hasn’t struck them with a lightening bolt, means your “God” thinks molesting children is fine and therefore, your “God” is a piece of shit. And so I also have to ask some questions about anyone following such a “God” and more to the current problem, trying to force the American people to do so.
I should have called my book “Morality Made Me an Anti-theist” because the actual problem is religion, the insistence that a bunch of crap in ancient literary works is not just a bunch of crap in ancient literary works. Hey, I’ve loved Lord of the Rings since I was a teen, and there are parts so beautiful that they still make me weep. It is a profound tale of the battle between good and evil, and feels very relevant at this time. But it also contains a bunch of crap reflecting the bias of its author, such as all the bad guys have dark complexions. This is to say, I acknowledge that these so-called scriptures contain some admirable ideas, such as the condemnation of selfishness and hypocrisy, the caution against setting yourself up as a moral arbiter when you yourself do not meet you own alleged standards (I return again to the ordained rapists) and so on.
The existence of the ordained rapists is proved. You can see their mugshots on line. Their existence is evidence indicating either:
1)God does not exist or
2)God approves of this behavior and is a moral monster, a sadistic psycho worthy only of the hatred and contempt of any person with a conscience.
I have heard contemptible political figures declare that people such as I are “trying to hurt God” and proclaim that it is their obligation to “defend God.” This does not reflect moral virtue. It demonstrates either monumental arrogance, or a cynical con job. If “God” is in fact the Master of the Universe as you claim, who the fuck do you think you are that “God” needs to be defended by you? If “God” created gay people, who the fuck do you think you are to persecute them? And why do you think that you are so special that the Master of the Universe should intervene on who wins your local high school football game?
I’m not here to debate theology with you, not really. Yes, I think your religious beliefs are false, but I believe in actual religious liberty, which is the freedom to believe nonsense if you want. What I stand opposed to is what you call “religious liberty” - your freedom to impose your religious views by law as a lifestyle that everyone must adopt or at least defer to. Aside from the basic un-American tyranny of this, your religious views are harmful and create misery. If they did not, you would not be trying to use the law to keep people in your churches who are trying to flee. You wouldn’t need to. People would be freely practicing your religion because it made their lives better. I assure you, as a lifelong atheist, finding a meaning to life does not require belief in God.
Why don’t you just admit you are afraid of dying? What is weird to me is that despite your claim to the existence of an afterlife, you are still afraid of dying. Murder is generally considered to be the worst crime. Yet murder in the name of your “God” has dogged your so-called “faith” from the beginning. I submit to you that in order to fully appreciate the enormity of murder you must be an atheist, so that you understand that you have extinguished a unique being who will never exist again, who had just this life and nothing more, and rubbed them out of existence. And just as bad, that you support a politics that leads to a life of needless grief and misery, not just for one but for many people, so that you can realize your dream of being a billionaire.
I call BS on the whole thing and fuck your feelings! Isn’t that what you “Godly people” like to say - fuck your feelings? And fuck you!
This is my declaration of war.