5/26/2000 3:00 PM

            I am agnostic.  I don’t claim a belief in god or gods.  I don’t have physical evidence to establish beliefs either way.  I don’t believe in an afterlife.  I don’t believe in a heaven or hell.

            I believe my actions on this earth will result in punishments and/or rewards in this life, not the next.  I don’t need commandments to tell me how to act.  I believe you should treat others the way you wish to be treated yourself.

            It pays far more to be good to others than to be bad.  Of course, there are always people willing to stab you in the back no matter how much you care about them, but you cannot keep your guard up all of the time. 

            Being agnostic means being unpopular.  People tend to assume you must be an evil heathen, but since I don’t believe in an evil deity, that’s pretty difficult.  People tend to view those like me as immoral, but I think most pious people are far more selfish and uncaring about others.

            I’d say that being agnostic is a curse sometimes.  I can take no comfort that god is looking over me.  I am probably instantly undateable to 90% of the population.  I’ll probably be alone for a long, long time.

            One thing I find odd is that I don’t fear death.  I believe that I become worm food when I die.  Most religious people fear death even though they have a wonderful afterlife to look forward to.  Why fear a god that supposedly loves you?

            If god does exist, god probably won’t care if you went to church every week.  God probably won’t care if you cannot quote the bible.  One would be safe in assuming that if you lead a good, fulfilling life and you’re kind to others, you’ll be rewarded in the end.

            I bet god would be pissed at the petty bickering between religions.  God would be upset that people are teaching others how to be closed-minded, how to hate, how to be intolerant.  There’s almost nothing worse than a bigot that believes they’re right, and everyone else must be wrong.  God should smite those who teach others how to destroy lives and feed off the fear of others.

            Religion should preach love, tolerance, and embracing of new ideals.  It is not up to one group to decide how everyone else should live their private lives.  They should teach how to open up your mind and discover your own truths.  They should not have their idiotic active recruiting campaigns.  It should not be a way of life, but it should aide you in your life.  Perhaps this is asking too much for society.  It is much easier to hate than to love.  It is much easier to find the faults of others rather than trying to fix your own.  Humanity has such great potential, but it usually blows it.  How can I help?  Is it worth the try?

            I really want to do something to help mankind, but I sometimes question whether it’s worth the struggle.  Quite a struggle it would be too.  People would hate the idea of an agnostic heathen that wants to help the world.