People have asked me if I believe in God. They’ve asked if I’m religious. They’ve asked if I believe the Jesus Christ is my Savior. And if I answer truthfully, many people assume I’m destined to burn in some notion of damnation, the Eternity of the Unbeliever.

Well, I guess it’s time for me to correct the record. Why? Well, why not?

There’s an assumption by “Believers” that they have a free pass to an afterlife in some blissful cloudlike seat in the House of God, in Eternal gratitude for the privilege of basking in the light of Eternal comfort and sanctity.

These are often (but certainly not always) the same people who deny human responsibility for the atrocities we commit in His Name, for the justification of our trashing of the planet, for our King James, or Old Testament or Koranic versions of The Way and the Light while we continually plunge this world in the darkness of tribal warfare, racial hatred, and disregard for our role as stewards of all (God’s) creations.

We have means to forgive ourselves, to absolve ourselves of our Sins. Each religious doctrine offers a Way Out, a chance to reclaim a spot in the long line of souls, waiting at the Heavenly Turnstile for a pass to Eternal Glory when we give up this mortal coil.

Claptrap. One is not Forgiven by some Eternal Judge who wears one or another – or all – religious headcovers and vestments. No such luck.

But, I’ll give them credit for coming up with the perfect tool for crowd control. Behave or you can’t eat of the flesh and blood of Christ. Behave and you’ll find Holy Sexual congress with a bevy of beautifully unsullied virgins. Behave, and the plagues of unholy curses will pass you by, visiting only those who don’t wear the symbol of Heaven-Granted immunity for the sin of being human.

So, we are born into a human society of self-hatred. That’s really it. We have contempt for ourselves. We know we are flawed in the Eyes of the Perfect One. We can never measure up. But, we can be forgiven, seek forgiveness if we just join one or another Religious club, say the magic words, bow to the Human Interpreter, the Human Middleman who controls the Gate. The price of admission? Give up all notions of Spiritual Independence. Accept and Ye Shall Be Accepted. Poof. Sins wiped in advance of sinning, Sins forgiven after sinning.

How have we come so far as a species, come to the point that we can, in a fury of self-hatred, destroy ourselves in a spasm of self-loathing? After all, we are told to” Love Thy Enemy As Thyself!” Well, if that’s the case, we’re all fucked. Because we know we already don’t love ourselves so much, do we?

We’re too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, too dark, too light, too pale, too pushy, not aggressive enough, too slow, too fast, too poor, not rich enough. Basically, we’re not worth saving UNLESS we embrace the Dogma of Deliverance.

Wow! Do I HAVE to believe this? Do I have to join the flock if I want Forgiveness for being me? Really?

So, how about this? I wrote this when I was, maybe 14 or so. “God” is the X in the Equation of Existence.”

OK, sophistic, teenaged attempts at the Big Answer. Why are we here? What is our purpose in being here? What IS here? How did It become? What happens when it isn’t? Or, if that’s a Never, what was here Before?

Geez! “Only God Knows!” (Good non-answer to a non-answerable series of questions).

So, how about this? “The Universe works. I am a part of it. Thank you very much!”

Done.

But now to the job of living. Somehow, we have a conscience. We have awareness of Right and Wrong, of Good and Bad. We have these things built into our DNA. We have the instinct of Self Preservation that all living things have. All. From the smallest echinoderm to the largest mammal, we all have that determination to survive.

But, so far as we know, we humans are the only living species that spends so much time, energy, wealth and blood in the development of weapons intended to destroy our own kind – and every other kind of living, breathing being that walks, crawls, swims or flies on, below and above the earth’s surface.

Explain that, please. How can this be if we are Created in God’s Image?

Wow! What must that God look like?

So, do I Believe? I do. I believe in Good. I believe in the Rational. I believe in the mystery of the Universe, a mystery that even the rational cannot explain.  I have faith in that, and gratitude for my chance to live and die as a flawed and imperfect human being.