Vote Republican? I Say Vote Atheist.

I glanced over a poll somewhere claiming that people are far more likely to vote for a presidential candidate who holds Christian or Catholic beliefs than a candidate who is an Atheist. As a devout Atheist (I pray to my very own nonexistent deity called science), I felt obligated to write.

I first read about Russel’s teapot in Richard Dawkins’ “The God Delusion.” Allow me to paraphrase.

If I were to tell you a teapot was floating in orbit around the sun between the Earth and Mars that was too small to detect by any of our current technology, would you believe me? What if someone had written about this teapot for several centuries and claimed this ceramic kettle created everything in existence? Seems a little farfetched, no? I’m sorry, I just can’t grasp the idea that a teapot cast the 10 plagues over Egypt, let alone that it even exists.

“Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.” – Einstein

I reject that a society can be so invested in the religious beliefs of its leader. There is absolutely no justification to do so. If we’ve learned anything from history it’s that religion is simply a game we play to legitimize imperialism.

You don’t need a deity to tell you the difference between right and wrong. You certainly should not rely on an unknown entity to define success.

Recently I find myself taking the stance opposed to someone just for the sake of debate. Regardless of my actual perspective, I disagree because I can. However, I argue against religious beliefs because they are absurd. There are no direct benefits of having a religious belief, but there are certainly disadvantages:

1. You lose your free will. You’re now a follower.
2. Fear of punishment. Hope for reward after death. (Einstein’s elegant words)
3. Your time.
4. Your money.
5. Idealism. You must deal with the fact that you were not created in the image of your deity. Nothing has been made perfect.
6. False goals. Successful leaders, businessmen, professors, etc. did not get to where they are because of “good” deeds. If your ultimate goal is to reach your heaven, you cannot succeed in life.

So next time you go to the polls, think and vote Atheist.