Imagine being a superstitious atheist
02/21/2019
Once, my life drew many parallels with the that of the Janissary. Our story is of poor Christian boys whisked away to fight on behalf of Kings and Sultans in Muslim lands. The experience was the catalyst for me becoming agnostic.
Telling people you're agnostic is better than telling them you are an atheist. Why? Those with faith think atheists are as untrustworthy as rapists. This is interesting because the majority of people are liars, while only a minority are atheists. Coincidentally, the qualities people rank the highest for a leader are honest and trustworthy.
Being without faith is a benign experience because it never crosses my mind until someone who has faith reminds me of its existence. Most of my time is spent pondering about things other than god because god spends most of their time pondering about things other than me.
In my travels here in the United States, I have not yet come across any conspiracy by the State to dismantle the institutions of faith. Faith is important because it comforts people while providing social mores. Karl Marx called religion the opium of the masses because it helps pacify society. We humans crave opiates like faith to sedate us against our basic human fears and to grant us a reprieve from the harshness of our realities. The root cause of our addiction to faith is the desire for human connection. For addiction, my preferred method of treatment is harm reduction. The meaning behind this might be a little abstract, let me know if I need to expound or reify this post any?