Being an atheist has a number of benefits.
To begin with, we do not need to kneel or bow to anyone or anything, or promise blind obedience and unwavering loyalty some creed or other. No beseeching or praying or begging. No Lords, Masters or King of Kings stuff. As if we didn’t have enough of that here on earth.
Neither do we have to suffer the embarrassing U-turns that major religions have been forced to make as science progresses. Watching them squirm their way out of previously held ‘truths’ is excruciating. The world is the centre of the universe, and it is flat. Did I say that? I must have been misinterpreted.
And amongst atheists there is no sibling rivalry, no vying for positions as occurs with other popular belief systems. And the Oscar for Most Influential Religion goes to….
No plan B, either. No Afterlife or Paradise or Heaven to take the sting out of harsh reality. No mysterious explanation for the deaths of children in an orphanage blaze, or the massacre of innocents, no twisted logic or infinite wisdom in abuse or torture.
Just us, here and now, faced with human problems that demand immediate solutions. No excuses, no putting things off till the next incarnation, no God Willing or Inshallah. We take responsibility for our actions and our inactions. There is no-one else to blame.
And we get the holidays, too!
