Sky Cops

One of the things that drives me bonkers about religious people is the sense they have that there is a cop in the sky, watching their every move, and who stands in judgment of their behaviors.  What a total load of crap.  So some invisible man is taking notes and taking names on over 7 billion people, and when you die he is going to read off the list and make a call.  You go to heaven and have bliss for eternity, or you go to hell and burn and scream and are tortured for eternity, and by the why, he loves you all.  (Apologies to George Carlin.)

How in the world did anyone ever convince rational people to buy that crap?  The amount of guilt the church and religion has laid on human beings is in itself sinful.  And that’s the catch.  Sky daddy gets to announce what his wants and wishes are, he simultaneously supposedly has given us the appetites and instincts to do the opposite of his wishes, so therefore we are all always sinful and in need of forgiveness.  If you want to raise a sociopathic child try that as a climate.  You can do nothing right.  Everything you want to do is wrong.  An invisible man is going to judge you some day and he watches you all the time.  That is just bullshit.

We do not know what or where or why there is a god, so by definition there must not be one.  A God serves no positive purpose, provides no insight or answers, does not deliver on promises, nor is he willing to intervene in our behalf.  Do I have to have a god to live?  Nope.  I know why we have an atmosphere and lakes and vegetation and cold beer, but I have no clue why we have a god.  Worse, we do not have a clue where heaven might be and/or where hell might be.  It is hysterical to think that billions of people have gone to one of these two eternal spots and no one knows where they are.  Even the most provincial among us can find Vega in the night sky and even the most worldly can find Lukenback, Texas.  So why is it we do not know where heaven and hell are?  What are the coordinates?  The GPS?  Which dimension?  We are capable of searching all of that and understanding all of that but it remains unknown.  And no one who has ever gone to either place has come back with a map. 

Equally funny is to believe it is something inside each of us that is eternal, that cannot be seen or measured, that goes to one of these two spots when we know full well eternity has no beginning and no end and things that cannot be measured or observed are likely to be fictional.  Each of us has a beginning.  I can remember nothing prior to about age 3 or 4.  Why would we, unlike every other life form, expect to have some sort of after death prescience?  By definition, there is no sense of self before birth and no sense of self after death.  I get it that longing for an eternal family reunion and an eternity of peace and pleasure and that somehow I will go on after death are fun concepts.  They just are not true.  And, it is incumbent on those who belief in such magical and mystical things to demonstrate that they are true and not just myths.  Show me a unicorn or evidence of unicorns or do not claim to believe there are such things.

Are you a good person only because someone is watching you?  Does surveillance keep you honest?  Then I am oh so sorry.  Christianity taught you that.  For those of us who resent constant surveillance and have a clear understanding of what good behavior is and chose to be good because it is intrinsically good not because we fear punishment or seek reward we reject the idea of sky cops who are watching our every move.  We don’t need them.  Atheists are good people without the fear and guilt Christians apparently need.  Atheists recognize that by caring for our fellow humans we improve the quality of life for all.  And we do so without the pursuit of pleasure or the avoidance of punishment.  We do so because it is the logical and right thing to do.

So, if you are driven by fear fueled by guilt that you are a sinful being and punishment is forthcoming, relax.  You do not need to go to a building, sit in a booth and request forgiveness from another human being as flawed as you are.  You do not need to go down front in some worship service and admit you are human.  You do not need to fall on your knees and plead with an invisible man in the sky to forgive you.  All you need to do is forgive yourself, make amends with any you have hurt, and keep moving forward with your own clear sense of right and wrong.  Leave guilt behind.  It is not real, it is based on false assumptions, and is in no way helpful.  The sky cops will never pull you over, arrest you and throw you in jail.  They are a figment of your childhood imagination.