I must admit that there is a kind of dumb happiness in blindly following the religious rants and edicts from the purveyors, promoters, and advocates of a religious faith--any faith. The universe is a scary place and ambiguity can make cringing cowards of us all--especially if we are afraid of critical thinking or, worse, incapable of it.
Arrogant blind faith absolves us of intellectual effort. Not having to intellectually and logically struggle with diversity and the mysteries of human existence, the pain of which most religious leaders purport to explain and keep us safe from, can create the illusion of a safe state of both mortal and eternal being.
That belief, however, also creates a safe state of not having to struggle with the illogic, hypocrisy, and arrogant assertions of religious faith written and spoken by men who often guessed wrong about Creation and how the universe works. Most were written and spoken by men, both smart and not-so-smart who searched for answers just like you and me. Other laws and directives of a religious faith were written and spoken by men who use the needs and fears of the masses for social, political, sexual, and economic gain.
The safe state of not having to question the pronouncements of a professed emissary of God and Jesus Christ would also force me to believe that God spoke and speaks to other men but not to me. It would also have me arrogantly but with necessary servility buy into a vast range of illusions and hypocrisies--most of which are merely self serving attitudes, beliefs, and posturings about people and things I would have to be willing to hate, ostracize, bully, kill, or kill for even if I don't understand why.
All of humanity struggles with the risk of illusion. Various explanations surface around the questions of whether humans in this form of our existence can ever really know what is real or not real in what we see, feel, and experience.
Hypocrisy and illogical thinking, on the other hand, is ever apparent to the critical thinker. And hypocrisy and illogic makes me ill. Professed Christians who want to take from the poor and give to the rich and ultra wealthy also make me ill. As do right wing "Christian" lawmakers making $174,000 a year and an expected generous pension of government dollars upon retirement who work tirelessly to deny working class families from acquiring affordable health care, medicaid, medicare, and social security at their retirement.
I would rather be an atheist than embrace that kind of hypocrisy. But I can't be an atheist because I believe in God. I just don't believe in man. I certainly don't believe in arrogant men, especially profiteering preachers, ministers, evangelists, and politicians who bastardize Christianity in the name of God with promises of God's full unearned Grace to convince scared or selfish compliants that...
1. ...women are not equal to men and do not deserve equality on any social level.
2. ...it is legal and proper for a man to stalk and confront an unarmed teenager on the pretense of mano-a-mano, then proceed to pull a firearm, stand his ground, and kill said unarmed teenager because the killer said he felt his life was in danger.
3. ...providing aid and assistance to the poor and unfortunate is not Christian because it rewards laziness.
4. ...an innocent girl must carry a fetus conceived by rape to full term and give birth to her rapist baby. In some places-even in the USA--the rapist then has parental rights.
5. ...God and Jesus Christ condones any abberent, anti-humane, and anti-Christian act and behavior as long as they are done in God's Name or in the name of Jesus Christ.
6. ..You can be a Christian and at the same time follow, advocate, and support the purveyors of hate, supression, repression, and murder.
7....God loves you but hate LGBT humans who some professed "Christians" say God need Christians to kill because LGBT humans are not Christians and are an affront to God.
8....God hates all the people you hate, and loves you only because you are Christian and they are not.
You can do all these thing, and worse, and believe that your "faith" and God's free Grace is a sanctuary that keeps you whole and safe from any errors you may incur as a result of your faith and your beliefs. You can do this, if you so desire, whether you are a vile person or just a lazy thinker.
But this arrogant shield of faith against illusion, hypocrisy, and illogic is an illusion. It is also a road to destruction. And,dare I say, the road to "Hell"?