Ungodly Unhelpful

I do not like using this argument to justify anything - it does not prove or disprove the existence of anything. It does, however, say quite a lot about the nature of the beast. It says a lot about morality as so many of you have accepted it (well, maybe not you, if you read this blog with any regularity, you might be of my opinion on the matter).

Just about every major religion preaches the existence of a benevolent deity who blesses the faithful and curses those who oppose him - leaving aside the inherent problem of whether or not that makes any moral sense, I wish to address the question of benevolence.

I have a friend, a close personal friend who, from the moment I first met her, has spoken of her desire to one day have children and a family - to be a mother to a new person and to mold the life and mind of a productive member of society. She can't. Ever. She found out today that her ovaries will never produce an egg and that, even if they one day could have, she needs to remain on the birth-control pill for the next thirty years because the hormones they provide are not created naturally by her system.

Her dreams were dashed. She told me this after a rant I'd gone on about my desire to not have children - something I am fully capable of doing and which I cannot stop surgically because no doctor will perform the surgery on someone as young as myself. When she'd finished telling me her unpleasant news, she said, quietly, that she had to trust that God had a plan and that He knew what was best for her.

The fact of the matter is that, regardless of anyone's plan, it's plain to see that it would not change very much in the grand scheme of things to give this one, good, kind and caring person the same opportunity as so many others enjoy - the same opportunity that unpleasant and all around bad people such as myself outright scoff at. It is unfair that she be subjected to such ill-treatment and to ascribe such a thing to benevolence is insulting.

If we assume, for a moment, that the postulated deity genuinely exists and it is He who, in His "infinite wisdom" decided that such a kind and caring and decent person be deprived one of the most basic pillars of human life, how can we, in our limited, worldly and - importantly - ultimately pragmatic wisdom accept that such cruelty be wrought against us? How can we worship at the feet of a being who a) demands that we accept his existence without any proof or evidence and that we submit ourselves entirely to his will and judgement; b) subjects us to "test" after "test" which have as their only goal to make us question his existence in an attempt to "strengthen" our blind belief in him and c) so cruelly abuses and disabuses those who are devoted to him of their dreams and ambitions.

It is an evil and wicked creature which treats his "children" in such a way and it is evil and wicked men who fly his banner while telling people it is okay to suffer in his name. It is not okay. It will never, ever be okay. I am an atheist for reasons I have not ennumerated here; this here is my answer to Mr. Blaise Pascal. I am willing to bet my eternal soul on God's non-existence because, if I come to the moment of judgement and the God of Christianity stands before me demanding my submission, I will walk, on my own, unescorted through the gates of hell.

I would rather suffer for the rest of eternity than pay the toll that cruel bastard exacts on those who enter paradise.