The Atheist Commando

Like everyone else who aspires to call themselves human beings, I have been horrified by recent events in the Middle East. And I cannot say on this forum, where anyone who says the Middle East disputes are NOT about religion are talking from, but it is definitely not out of their mouths. The troubles in the Middle East are 120% about one religion trying to destroy another, nothing more and nothing less. You only need to listen to recordings the terrorists – for terrorists is what they are - shouted as they made their invasion to know that.   That such vile acts can still be committed in religions name in the 21 st Century, clearly tells me that we must now privatise religion. It is time to bring to an end ‘the advancement of religion’ as a cause for which one can claim charitable status. We also need to stop giving religions privileges like, lower VAT rates on building works, council tax exemptions, business rate waivers, and above all, automatic seats in Parliament. Brita...

Of all the activities a human being can partake in, nothing is more pointless than the pursuit of a religion.  Think about this.  Religion 1 tells you that it is ESSENTIAL for your (so-called) 'salvation' that you adopt set of Beliefs 'A, and that you must engage in set of Practices 'B', and take part in a regular basis in set of Ceremonies 'C'.   Religion 2 says 'Hang on! You've got that all wrong. It's Beliefs, Practices and Ceremonies 'D', 'E' and 'F' you need matey. And if you don't follow those three things, well! I wouldn't like to be in your shoes when you get to the pearly gates, that's all I'm saying'.  But then, along comes Religion's 3, 4, 5 and so on. Each one of them tells you THEY'VE got it right and all the others have it got it TOTALLY wrong.'Nah, mate' they'll say. 'Seriously, you don't wanna be believing that old tut'! Oh, my days!  So, what then? How ...

As Tony Hancock might have said 'I've had a dose of just about every God going!'.  In my case that is very true.  Born into a Catholic family, I went to a Catholic primary school, an Anglican secondary school and in between primary and secondary school, I was in a care home run by a couple of very fervent United Reform Church Christians. I have worked in synagogues, trained as a Spiritualist Medium and many years I attended a Unitarian Church run by an atheist minister. I am also an ordained Minister (in the Universal Life Church) and hold a degree in Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method from one of the toughest philosophy departments in the world. And these days, I am a keen member of the National Secular Society.  But when I look around where I live, and I see lots of utterly miserable people, who all have one thing in common. They are all religious. As well as being miserable, they are also very angry. Despite this many feel the need to continue to ensnare more beli...