By Michael A. Dingwall

You know, I must say that I do get a belly full of laughs when people try to make fun of my atheism. Every now and again, I am constantly “reminded” that as I am an atheist, I could not possibly have any sense of direction or any morals. I especially get this tickle from Christians and other theists. However, I have a little shocker for them – assuming that god exists, he is himself an atheist!

Let me try and explain who an atheist is, as I understand it. An atheist is someone who believes in no power greater than himself. An atheist believes that he must take full responsibility for his actions and act accordingly. Now, as far as I can see, this is exactly what god is. Don’t believe me?

Christians say that atheists like me are misguided because I don’t have a god to guide me. However, what of god – who or what guides him? God, as he has always been presented to me, does not look up to anyone for guidance. As far as he is concerned, he is the master of his own destiny. This attribute of god is a fundamental characteristic of atheism.

Atheists don’t believe that any thing or anyone should be worshiped in the sense understood by Christians and other theists. That would be contrary to the belief of the true atheist in the capacity of his own abilities. God doesn’t worship anything either, as that too, would be contrary to his belief in the capabilities of his own abilities. Again, this is pure atheism.

Atheists like me are always damned as being amoral – that is, we are unable to make moral choices. Christians always boast that as their own moral decisions are guided by a supreme being, namely god, theirs must be better. However, what is guiding god’s own moral decisions? The answer to this will shock most theists.

Contrary to what many may think, morality has very little to do with ethics. All moral decisions are guided by one consideration only – the advantages of its execution. We atheists are always damned for thinking this way, yet god can only operate with this basic atheistic principle. Maybe an example would clear up this point.

Assuming that the bible is completely true, let us consider what god did to the Egyptians when they tried to stop the Hebrews crossing the Red Sea. Notice that the all-powerful god had the entire Egyptian army wiped out? Now, you may ask, why didn’t he just use his powers to levitate the Egyptian soldiers to somewhere else far away, instead of killing them?

It seems clear to me that god wanted to make sure that people would understand that it was he who stopped the Egyptians. Moving them to another place, or allowing them to live instead of wiping them out would have never made the type of impression in the minds of people that god was at work here. Here, it is the most benefit to be had that guided god’s act, and not the ethics of the act. Again, this is pure atheism.

So whenever I am being damned for my atheistic stance, I can take comfort for two reasons. First, god himself is an atheist, and as such I am in good company, and second, if Christians see god as superior, I can only imagine what that makes me!

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