PRISONER EXPRESS

In 50 years, my life has come full circle. I've heard, read and seen it all: truth and lies. For a while, I was more frustrated than King Arthur's magnanimous knights because my life was an empty quest. I've read volumes of religious and theosophical literature, hoping to find practicality and some connection with God. However, my perusing and research has only reinforced my belief- I am an atheist.

I've read the Bible four times with study-aids to understand why so many people are misled by it. Each time the plethora of contradictions challenged my logic, causing me to doubt the ancient text. The Bible is not alone in among my skepticism. I don't believe in any book of any religion. I have had no epiphany in 50 years and I've seen no miracles. What I have seen are innocent men, women and children being swept away like trash by wars, disease, crime, accidents and the forces of nature. None of us are exempt from these dire events.

Billions of prayers are said each day, calling on a metaphysical God that never answers us. We all want a God to come and rule us and save us, but our prayers dissipate into outer space. Thereunto, we hope for a "day of the Lord" when utopia arrives. Until then, believers will continue martyring themselves based on various ancient texts, claiming some horrible death will reserve a place in paradise for them.

Why would I fall in the ranks of any religion that pursues warfare and destruction? Is there a religion that doesn't do that? Upon reading the Bibl, I grieved for the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, Moabites, and the other as the Israelites merciless destroyed them. At the behest of Moses and the Israelite God, women and children were ruthlessly destroyed. The souls of those people meant nothing to the Israelite God. The besieged of war would not have a chance to worship the Israelite God. These recriminations can go on, but I won't.

If mankind is to survive, he must admit he is on his own. Knowledge comes to us by hard research. Nothing helps us in this darkness. It's time to move on without God- the myth. If a God appears in St. Peter's square or at the Muslim's Kaba or Dome of the Rock, I'll be the first to kowtow, but only after the demonstration of some phenomenal powers. Goodbye, God.