I Am An Atheist

Atheism to me means that you do not believe in all the religious garbage, you were force fed as a child by your country, school or family.  It means that you have deliberated and chosen to use your own mind and not followed blindly as a sheep.  After which you have decided that religion is not for you either because it is illogical or simply because you believe we humans control our own lives to an extent, that it is not over seen by some omnipotent being.  Atheism to me does not strictly mean one is intolerant to religious

belief or its followers, it just means you chose to not believe by your own reasoning.

I think it is wrong to expect children to pray or to be ushered into a religion at such a young age and they should be taught about ALL religions and given a choice to enter into one if they choose too afterwards.

When my daughter was young I simply said "If you do not want to pray at school, do not do it, tell them you are too young to know what to believe in and you will learn as you grow up".  She did just that and later chose to believe only in herself as a human with a good heart. Unfortunately she cannot do the same with her own young son as his father (ex partner) has him 2 weeks a month and has decided to take the more antiquated approach and push him into religion.

My grandson (named Jesus) being in a mostly Roman Catholic village in Spain has been ushered into that religion.  To get him to join it, he has in theory been bribed, told if he agrees to a communion "You get to have a party, get given money and gifts" so now he totters off to the weekly religious class (but you can tell he does not want too) and he goes to church on Sunday.  If he did not, he would not be allowed his communion.  So it is all just completely wrong, he has said that afterwards he will not go to church etc  So what a wonderful way to get children to worship God?

Maybe churches should give away goody bags to young children, a Playmobil or Lego Jesus, Joseph and Mary etc  So they can rein-act scenes from the bible at home.

I think for most western religions it is about the numbers, nothing more.

I find western religions to be money orientated and greedy, pushy and intolerant of other religions.  A lot of them were created to rule/command over people, to scare them etc

Or created by men who wanted to out do another religion out of the need for power.

I myself am a Buddhist but it is a faith not a religion, there is no God, yes there was a guy who created the faith of whom people can thank...but it is about being the best YOU can be as a human being.  A very simple premiss which is lost on many these days.

I think ALL people should educate themselves on religion, until they decide; Be an atheist...sit on the fence so to speak.  The world is our church, the grass, the sky, nature, you do not need a building to sit in, you need no God, just make sure you have your own moral compass set on HUMAN (Humane)...use your heart, mind and body to guide you.