Originally Posted by supercrone

As arguably the oldest member of this forum, I have probably given this subject more years of thought, research and introspection than the average pedant. So, by way of introduction, herewith a partial exposition of what I understand to be the Truth. I say "partial" because I have published many thoughts on this subject in an ongoing effort to pass along 81 years of insight. The following is part of a chapter that describes my trip to Atheism.

That mindset [man invents god(s), not vice versa] never changed for me, through divorce, another marriage, another divorce, the death of my daughter, a life full of travel, adventure, people and a wide diversity of cultures all over the world. The more I learned about organized religion, the more I saw it as a horrifyingly negative force on humanity. I became a dilletante in the study of theology, dipping into everything from Hindu Animism to Transcendental Meditation to Buddhism to Catholicism and back to Judaism. I read the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the Bhagavad Gita, parts of the Koran and some of the Upanishads, as well as the Torah and the Christian Bible. I talked with rabbis, priests, shamans and gurus. I even let a Jehovah's witness in one time (she left in tears). In short, because I believe in "don't knock it till you try it", I learned enough about the various religious concepts that mankind has imposed upon itself to understand how much I couldn't possibly swallow any of it.

I KNOW that the life force is a simple configuration of matter and energy, neither of which can be created or destroyed. I do NOT know the original source of this matter and energy, my definition of agnostic. I DO know that all deities, regardless of what they are called, are manmade myths, which knowledge apparently labels me an atheist.

I am far less immoral and untrustworthy than our born-again president. I am far more clear-headed and honest than the Pat Robertsons and Jerry Falwells of the world. I do not condemn those who disagree with me nor am I afraid of the consequences of my non-belief in some imaginary afterlife. My prejudices are the result of rational thought, study, experience and introspection.

So I'm an atheist. So sue me.