My Atheism, Charles Hanson

I often have a hard time putting succinctly my lack of belief - but this excerpt really hits on many good points... points I entirely agree with.

My Atheism, Charles Hanson: "The turning point for me was Ludovic Kennedy's book ' All in the Mind.'

This demonstrated to me how for so long we humans have deceived ourselves in trying to seek answers for our existence, and pre-occupied ourselves with the irrationality, illogicality, idealism, trivialities and the nonsense of religion. I arrived at conclusions about religion whose only adequate response was one of atheism. I now regard all religion in the same way as I regard supernaturalism, clairvoyance, tarot cards and tea leaf reading which are all manifestations of the search for meaning to our being, there is a tendency to search for and give meaning to all manner of things that affect our everyday existence, including abstractions. I would argue that all of this nonsense is born out of ignorance and is a 'left over' from the days when things 'not understood* were deemed to be acts of God. I began to see the religion for what it is often no more than an emotional crutch for those incapable of overcoming human adversity. For others an escapism, whilst for the most ludicrous - a second chance in some after-life.

Human reason persuades me that there is nothing mysterious about organised religion, the mysteries I would suggest lies in the human potential for nonsense. I am often challenged about my stance and am often confronted with the notion that there must be a reason for our existence. That there must be 'something* else apart from what we know. It is interesting that those who push this view have no idea themselves what this 'something' is. Instead, why not make the most of what we do know, and instead of the exertions that the religious put into the prospect of their own soul, try instead to improve the quality of life in the here and now and in so doing create a better world, instead of the bloodshed and conflicts that are so often instigated by religious differences."