The Judge
RAVES!
Date: 18/08/13
Confessio Infidelis
One of the problems with being an Atheist is having to cope with the lack of a formalised belief system. Or, rather, having to cope with the comments or questions of people who don't understand how it is even possible for anyone not to have one - preferably one scratched on goatskin from the Levant from at least a millennium and a half ago but, if none such is available, the jottings of a third-rate SF writer and scam merchant will do at a pinch.
No such prospectus could ever hope to cover everything, in any case. All one can do is give an outline in general.
I've just found a nice summing-up of part of what I believe (and stating emphatically what I don't) in the work of the pseudonymous versifier and commentator who calls him/herself The Digital Cuttlefish (which, I must admit, I first thought was a cover name for the biologist P.Z. Myers, but it seems that that was just an April Fool's joke which got out of hand).
As I say, I've only just found this, despite the fact that Mr./Mrs./Miss Cuttlefish first posted it two years ago. But an old truth is a truth all the same, so...
What An Atheist Believes
I believe in love and kindness
I believe in helping hands
I believe in strong opinions
I believe in taking stands
I believe cooperation
Overcomes the steepest odds
I believe we have a fighting chance
I don't believe in gods.
I believe in education
I believe in learning science
I believe we see much further
When we climb atop of giants
I believe in writing poetry
And verses praising love
I believe that there are mysteries
But not a god above.
I believe in art and music
And the power of a voice
I believe in nature's beauty
I believe we have a choice
I believe we have a future-
We're in charge of how it looks-
I believe in sharing knowledge, too
But not in holy books
I believe we came from nothing
And to nothing we'll return
I believe we don't know everything
But much of it, we'll learn
I believe we're all connected
I believe all sorts of stuff
I believe we are humanity
And isn't that enough?
© The Digital Cuttlefish, 2011
