"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the feelings of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of nonspiritual conditions. It is the opium of the people." – Karl Marx

What is God? I believe it is just an idea, an idea that shields us from all things we do not know. As children we need to be told what to do. Religion and God served that purpose very well until man began to think. Religion has done great things, some of which are good, some bad, but most are not practical in today’s life.

An atheist is someone who does not believe in the existence of God or anything supernatural, because there are too many why’s that God has not been able to answer. An atheist looks at science for proof of what he sees, unlike a believer who blindly follows what he is told. Many people are atheists also because of the way they are brought up, just like any other believer, and some might just find it cool.

Religion has done some good things as well:

• It has brought a sense of togetherness, and social responsibility.
• It brings purpose and meaning to one’s life, relieving the person of the burden of death.
• It has initially helped people follow certain social and moral codes.

But right now, it seems to have done more bad than good. Sadly!

• It controls people, in a way they ought not to be controlled.
• Not many people actually “think”.
• One religion’s rules have become the reason for war to another.
• Evolution might as well come to a stand still. But mother nature is always here to help us with that. :)
• You’ve got to agree with me when I say it’s mostly waste of time and money.
• These are not the only ones!
  

Not being able to think is reason enough to stop being a slave to religion and god. There is no proof that God doesn’t exist. But something doesn’t exist until proven otherwise. And science has given us, atheists, enough evidence of evolution, the order in the universe, sunrises and sunsets, etc., to believe in what we believe.

A believer may argue saying that the beautifully designed universe, the flora and fauna, and humans, are all work of God. But science has recently thought us what Evolution is. We have been able to find the age of the earth, fossils that indicate how life has evolved, and why the heavenly bodies behave the way they do. Gods might have been a very convincing reason for some basic phenomena like the sunrises and sunsets when we did not know that the earth is going around the sun. Scientists have been giving us more consistent and logical explanations for the existence and the nature of the universe, with better supported evidence.

But science too has a long way to go until many questions are answered. Until then atheism is my best bet, because it gives me more room to think, act and decide based logical reasoning, analysis, experience, and interpretation of evidence.