MY VIEWS ON RELIGION

The other day someone actually asked me why I was an Atheist. If I believed in any god and how it came to be. So I directed them to my website which has my rant on religion which I copied below:
As a child I grew up in an Italian-American household. Roman Catholic icons were all over my grandparents house. I went to Catholic school for 9 years and did my duty as an altar boy. Needless to say, religion was a big part of family life. First Holy Communion. Confirmation. Church on Sunday. No meat on Friday. No goodies during Lent. These were the rules that were going to get me into heaven. I got married in a Catholic church, teaching love, honor, till death do us, etc. But then it happened, I got divorced. A Roman Catholic doesn't get divorced, it's a sin. I'll go to hell. No wait, all I have to do is go to confession and it's all better. Neat trick!
After a few years I tried the church again. I went to church with a very devout Catholic girl. During the mass, the priest stood in front of the congregation holding a blow-up sheep trying to talk about something or other. I sat there thinking, "What the heck is the priest talking about?, this is religious enlightenment?"
After many years of pondering religion in my life, trying to get something out of a church service, I have come to realize that organized religion is like a crutch. It helps you when you need it, and when everything is ok, you can discard it. In recent years the talk of God has flooded the media. People killing in the name of religion, saying it is "God's will". A young child is struck down by a stray bullet from some crack dealer's gun, and they say, "God works in mysterious ways".
No matter what happens God has a perfect record.

So here is my belief; Life is what you make it, not what some spiritual deity has destined it to become. You set your course and you determine the outcome. It's not pre-planned, it's not fate. Like the T-shirt says "Shit happens".

Now, I have no problem with people who believe in a higher power, just as I have no problem with people who wear ugly shoes. Just don't ask me to wear your shoes. And please stop trying to convince me I am wrong, when I die I'll find out... or not!

Below are the lyrics to a song that came out in 1976, that I think is still relevant today.

If There's A God In Heaven (What's He Waiting For?)
Written by Elton John and Davey Johnstone
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin - Available on the album Blue Moves

Torn from their families
Mothers go hungry
To feed their children
But children go hungry
There's so many big men
They're out making millions
When poverty's profits
Just blame the children

If there's a God in heaven
What's he waiting for
If He can't hear the children
Then he must see the war
But it seems to me
That he leads his lambs
To the slaughter house
And not the promised land

Dying for causes
They don't understand
We've been taking their futures
Right out of their hands
They need the handouts
To hold back the tears
There's so many crying
But so few that hear

If there's a God in heaven
Well, what's he waiting for

If there's a God in heaven
What's he waiting for