The Right to Live
Religion is not about hope, its about gambling with life. It is a casino, and
you gamble with what life gives you – you have to believe that the “system”
will work for you, that the “House” will play fair. You stake your dreams and
desires, a lot of money and sadly, even your lives, in the hope that your
“system” will prevail and the House will pay out. The House wants you to
hope and pray, and you do, but it makes not the slightest difference, does
it? You feel a little better after a “rousing” Sunday sermon or Friday's
“namaaz,” like you do when you win fifty bucks on the slots. Confronted with
greater stakes, like financial ruin or death, and the feeling is not unlike
losing your life's savings in Texas Hold 'Em. You can pray and hope all you
like, but you know that your loved one is to be deprived of their physical
form, and you do not see anything left of them. The House is now promising
that they, along with you, shall reconstitute in due time, but you have never
actually seen that hand ever being played, have you?
Atheism is the sober reminder that while you may not leave a millionaire,
you will keep your sense of value in life, which enables you to enjoy and
make the most of what you have. Like the “House” or any professional con
artist, religion will leave you finished with life or a shriveled shell of your
former self as you endure the endless wait. Atheism, which is reality, never
leaves your side.
I do not really mourn those who die in their eighties or nineties; I would be