On Being an Atheist
Written by Paul-Michael Keichel
Atheist Poems
( 7 Votes )
On Being an Atheist
So many people walk through life, with the idea in their heads,
that someone else is responsible for their success and daily breads.
They praise his name and blank their thoughts, on occasions when they win
and when they lose, it’s not their fault, “it must be worldly sin”.
No doubt, it must be comforting, to have him control your life;
he picks you up, when you are down and carries you through strife.
Late at night, all alone, someone knows your thoughts.
Believe enough, you’ll have your way, on healing, peace, all-sorts!
“But, is he there,” we people ask, “bestowing on us glory?”
“Or, have they just filled in the blanks, with nothing but a story?”
To us, it seems, minds applied, there’s simply not enough,
to suggest that the universe comprises more than stuff.
We live our lives, in our own minds and earn our daily bread,
and when we don’t, we do not blame a holy page, unread.
Our failure’s ours, but, then again, so is our success.
We never need relinquish it to some ‘being’ who did bless.
When you see that it’s you, who steers your worldly path,
then you’re the judge, the man in charge, the one who hands down wrath.
For, in your dreams, you will be judged by your subconscious mind
and it’s this alter-ego, who knows of your unkind.
And so, you see, it’s not the struggle to sit on a cloud,
but, rather, to reach end of days, looking back, feeling proud.
We need not search through books about divine morality,
when we can be the persons, with whom friends we’d want to be.
In the end, should we find that we wooled-over our own eyes,
we’ve had an answer for some time, it may come as surprise.
For, if, one day, we find we’re asked why we disbelieved,
we’ll tell Bertie’s God, “non-evidence is what had us all deceived!”
If, as many thinkers think, we all cease to exist,
as a fairly decent way to go, it cannot be dismissed.
In not existing, even though good times will not be had,
we will not be experiencing it, so, it cannot be that bad.
Paul-Michael Keichel – 18 July 2010
Comments
Awesome poem.. :)
" I do not believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
-Gallelio
Unfortunately, I do not believe that faith and rationality can be invoked in the same breath. To believe in something, in the complete lack of falsifiable evidence (holy books don't count), is to be as irrational as one can be. That you then attempt to build rational argument on that basis, does not detract from the fact that your premise is fundamentally flawed.
As for quoting Galileo: he was a scientist ('father of modern science and physics'). For his views, he was subject to an inquisition and found "vehemently suspect of heresy", forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. THAT is what faith (other people's) did to the man. So, I hardly think that you've chosen a very good example of someone to quote (albeit, entirely out of context).