Today’s religion might not be the answer to our problems

I grew up in a Christian household. We went to church most Sundays, I had church school once a week, and I was a teacher’s aide for the younger kids in the church school. I memorized the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. After all this, I decided to become an atheist.

People think that I chose this because I was uneducated religiously, or they believe I was born into a family of atheists. The truth is that I decided to because it seemed like a more logical explanation for the world; I thought that science was more correct than the Bible stories I had read, about a God that suddenly appeared and created Earth.

My atheist beliefs stem also from the fact that I have a problem with God. What kind of sick being would sit and watch as innocent children die when he has the power to stop it? No matter what people say, no one should deserve to die without living life, even if they get a free ticket to Heaven.

Let’s just say Christianity is right. That religion was created 2,000 years ago, so therefore, does that mean that all the people alive prior to Christianity’s birth went to Hell because they didn’t believe in it? How is that fair? They didn’t even know about the religion!

I don’t mean to discredit anyone’s religion, but isn’t the whole process of getting a religion sort of random? Sixty five percent of people keep the religion that their parents gave them. Some say that they feel the religion they grew up with to be intrinsically true. But what if you had been adopted into a Hindu family from birth? How could you possibly know Christianity was the religion you truly believe in? You wouldn’t, you would be Hindu.

It is the job of an individual to take a look at every religion before they chose what they believe in. Just because your parents believe in something doesn’t mean it is true. Generations ago, many of us had ancestors who thought slavery was acceptable, but not all children agreed and luckily slavery was made illegal.

All that I am trying to point out is that before you tell me I’m going to Hell for being an atheist, look at all the different perspectives on religion. You might even possibly find that having no religion suits you better than having any of them.

 Being an atheist doesn’t make me an immoral person. Actually, it makes me a more honest moral citizen. My intentions for doing the right thing in my life have nothing to do with the big man in the sky saying I have to or because I selfishly want to ascend to Heaven; I do the right thing, because I respect people and the environment.