My View of God

To me, god (if there is a god) is not an active, personable being, but rather a passive, imperfect being who does not interfere with people on Earth as much as we think he does. I believe that for the most part we are on our own. What is the point of this life? To find a balance and happiness in life and to help others attain happiness. We have each been dealt a stack of cards and we have to do the best with what we have.

The first two sentences of the following paragraph are what I said in a conversation with my Baptist neighbor:

I told her that I am agnostic, but that there are a few good arguments for a belief in god. Her next comment was really striking - "so then, if you don't believe in God, why do good? Why help others and be kind?" What?! Really? My neighbor seriously thought that Atheists have no reason to be "good" or "nice." I told her that there are TONS of reasons. Atheists believe that this is their only chance to live (at least for a really long time). Why not make the best of it. Why not make this earthly experience as pleasant as possible for everyone. We are all interconnected. Does she think that atheists are the people who go around stealing, cheating, and whoring around? On the contrary, there are repercussions for these actions and they generally aren't pleasant. Atheists know this. Also many Atheists know first hand what it feels like to get uninvited ideologies force fed to them, so by applying the golden rule, they are often the first to apply the live and let live principle of tolerance. They are resistant to let religious or pious dogma get their panties in a twist. They are generally peaceful. While religious people are busy blasting each other apart (metaphorically and physically speaking) over who is right, the atheists are off to the side thinking, "Wow, just another reason to avoid religion." Atheists try to be tolerant and don't have any religious "us versus them" mentalities. They have no inherent reason not to (other than maybe getting religion crammed down their throats).

Anyway, just some of my thoughts of the day.