Backstory
I stopped believing in God over ten years ago. Shortly before I lost my faith (not that I really had much to begin with) I stopped believing in the devil. I came to the conclusion that the devil was simply made up to scare people into being Godly or following God’s word. So I chose not to believe in such a thing. Soon after I chose not to believe in God either. I had the realization that there could be no God. God for me became Santa Claus or Unicorns or Leprechauns. It appeared to me that faith was simply a coping mechanism for all the things we cannot understand in our world, and I personally did not feel I needed answers. For me I have less guilt and more freedom without god/religious duty looming over my head. That being said I have no judgement towards faith/religious lovers, I am the first one to say believe in whatever you want to believe in, and I will believe in mine.
This brings me to the topic of my blog today. I was recently at and event where someone suggested that to be a good person and to carry out justice for all, you somehow must have god’s light in your heart. I don’t overly agree with this. I would have to say bluntly I have none of God’s light in my heart. My heart is made of blood and muscle and tissue. It’s made of the same thing that your heart is made of. This however may suggest that I am a bad person, selfish, vain, greedy. I hate this stereotype of non believers. I consider myself a good person and in a way I feel like I feel more pain than most because I try everyday to have compassion for every person, and living thing on this planet. More and more these days I see how everything is connected and that the stars in the sky are on the same level as mosquitos, as carbon, as music, as humans. Everything we have today is because of how this Universe has developed at random. To me life is a gift but not a gift given by someone or something. A gift of happening, a side effect of our Universe. And I try to live in this gift as a peaceful person not because I was taught to but because I want too, because hate, violence, judgement and intolerance have never amounted to anything positive.
wordsofhonestunwisdom 
I’m an atheist and I often find myself arguing with people who say that I have to believe in God to be a good person. This couldn’t be further from the truth. No one needs a religion or a god to understand what is right and understand how to live a good life. Nice post.
It’s an unfortunate case when laymen believers still think that in order for one to be good or to know good they must have some concept of their god. It’s a real shame we haven’t moved past that yet.
A more interesting question however is “what is the foundation for moral facts?”.
You say you’re a good person (which I don’t doubt, but then again we don’t know eachother) so you must have some concept of what is good and bad – morality.
If things are really and truly right and really and truly wrong then what is your foundation for that belief?
If everything in our universe was and still is created at random then, does this mean our concepts of what right and wrong are random? Can a factual right and wrong moral answer be given at all?
These are more interesting questions and harder questions to answer – and I think these are worth addressing more than brief, sweeping statements that I’m not sure you have backed up yet.
In regards to the coping mechanism remark as to why people come to believe in a god, I find to be a bit too broad based – it wasn’t my reason and I know it is the reason for many others (although it is a reason for some). But, even if they believe if for this reason, does that necessarily mean that their belief is false?
Fantastic and honest 🙂
You almost think like me 🙂
Thank you!
theonlychadman makes some good points, one that would require many pages to address…such as Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals…or Birth of a Tragedy. I enjoyed your short post and the sentiments expressed. I think religions provide an attempt at a moral framework or a guide as to how me might live. These religions have been created by mankind long ago before the birth of science. Science has brought on more challenges in figuring out our purpose within this giant uncaring expanse (the one giant expanse that we know of…I wouldn’t rule out that there are perhaps as many universes as there are galaxies or stars). It is unfortunate that these old religions turn into dogmas that actually create more strife between people and segregation. Man needs to develop an evolving and fungible guideline…not dogmas. If we could realize that we are all alone in an uncaring hostile chaotic universe and live on a very beautiful and unique planet that supports life, we could then start to contemplate what our direction should be and how we should interact with one another.
Agreed!
I agree with the basic thought here…I don’t think there is a ‘god’, given our general interpretation of ‘god’. There is certainly some force we don’t understand, be it physics or mathematical or godly or whathaveyou. My real problem is with religion, not necessarily god. Religion generally says ‘you must believe what I believe or you are damned’. Christianity and some other religions say ‘man was made in god’s image’. How narcissistic, arrogant, and self-absorbed – my beliefs are not only right, they are the ONLY possibility, and I am god reincarnate, so you have to do as I do. Eesh. Then to top it all off, more blood has been shed, and more unspeakable acts have been done in the name of ‘god’ than all other reasons put together. ‘Christians’ say love each other and leave judgment to god, then denounce anyone who doesn’t measure up to their standards…homosexuals, bisexuals, single mothers, anyone who even considers abortion to be acceptable under any circumstances, etcetera etcetera ad nauseum. Religion is just an excuse to force other people to do and think like they are told. The ‘light of god’ in your heart is just respect for others and a willingness and desire to treat yourself and others with respect and happiness, to live and let live without judgment. We are here only a short time. Enjoy your time and do what you can to help others enjoy their time, without judging them. You don’t know their whole story; you can never know what causes them to do what they do. So leave the judgment to the afterlife and share a smile instead.
Thanks for reading my poem. This post is very interesting. Your arguments are well written. Of late I am no longer a believer too. Good and evil would remain that way irrespective of whether there is a man in the sky.