Junior Atheist Looks at God

What is Christianity? According to the Oxford dictionary it is "The Christian faith, doctrines of Christ and his Apostles."

This faith is a very useful thing to have, for if you have any troubles you can go and tell God all about it and he will metaphorically pat you on the back and say, "There, there little fellow, it's all for your own good." If, subsequently, every thing comes out all right your faith receives a hefty boost, and God some praise. If it does not, the feeling is "Well, it must be for my own good." The result is a nice contented population. To emphasise the fact that every one must be good—i.e., obey their priests—the idea of hell fire was introduced as a threat and heaven as a bribe.

Believers in this faith always refute the fact that it is based on threats and bribery. They say—

"No, it is something else that makes us do good."

This is probably quite true. A number of them undoubtedly wish to shine as "perfect citizens" or "true Christians." However, many deny this—what can the "something else" they speak of be? The answer is. I think, that it is the natural human desire to help one's fellows, bursting through all the taboos the church has imposed—on sex, science, amusement, in fact, everything. Take away this religion and let people act normally, and the world would be a very much better place, all the selfish believers of this faith acting as normal sympathetic human beings.

They are selfish in spite of their denials. When sailing they pray for a wind to blow the way they want to go, rejoicing when it does—and never a thought for the person sailing the other way. Even if they do think of those others they just assume that they are favoured more than the others. What disgustingly smug self-righteousness! And on what grounds are they favoured, may I ask? They assume that they are "better," that they pray more often. It never occurs to them that their voyage coincided with a depression in another part of the world. Then they expect [unclear: t] to listen to all their petty troubles when, as it seems, he is already unable to cope with a vast number of starving people—of course, it is all for their own good. I'm sorry, I had forgotten.

What a faith. God help those that believe in it.

Swen.