Dear atheist society,

In light of the repetitive circumstances of both personal and societal hurt, resulting so commonly in your circles with responses of apathetic depression, continued rage against the uselessness of faith and religion (and humanity itself, perhaps), or sparking action against such circumstances, I must say the following:

With no faith in a governing, all-knowing God, you are well aware that you are not rooted in anything but the selfish ambitions that guide you and those that matter to you (a selfishness that may extend much further than, of course, yourself, to include humanity or perhaps the whole of the universe, I realize). However, all of the ideas and knowledge sought in the name of Godless Science has resulted in the discredit of your own intelligence and self-awareness. A resistance of the melding of consciousness and God, and the insistence of the un-speciality of the human race (whilst blaming it for the ills of morality and justice, environmental perils and lack of general education) has caused those like you to view such a species as one that is, of course, incredible, but also minute in our (but, you correct me, surely not our as in ownership, for it's no more ours than the trees') own infinite cosmos that knows no beginning of time. What I have been taught from you is that, essentially, in that which is the grand scheme of billions of years and what not, our lives mean nothing; we are a blip, a tick on a twenty-four hour clock; we will die, and something (or nothing) will replace us; our existence is as likely as our non-existence (with much more favour in the latter). You are not special, you cry, clutching your spouse and daughters, and any material thing that might promise happiness, even for a moment, because we evolved to desire happiness, to dull guilt, to feel within ourselves right and wrong. But it's the tangible, tangible, tangible what matters-- TOUCH IT, you say, not unlike the resurrected Jesus Christ, SMELL IT, TASTE IT, because those Christian buzzwords hope, mission, and purpose are found in the mouths of those who are so rarely actually doing anything other than clutching onto their spouse and daughters, and any material thing that might promise happiness, even for a moment. Their mission, you think, might just be to make laughable claims against scientific proof, along with the raising hands in worship to a feeling. Such ignorance for those at the top of the food chain who should be--what? What is it you say we should be doing, pursuing, for whom? Our survival? The survival of organic materials, because of guilt, awareness, self-preservation, empathy, intelligence? All this from a blip of a species, as Niel deGrasse Tyson reminds us over and over, created by nothing other than trial and error of mutated genes, no creative designer, no guide, no supernatural (not even the allowance to credit all that is beautiful before us, however it that it has come to be, to God, even if we believe that it came to be exactly how you've written about it in Science 9 textbooks)? I mean think about it: we can't touch love, consciousness, guilt, or even properly define those things, but we accept them as real, don't we? To feel and know a God who explains our idiosyncrasies, our drive for perfection, our desire to preserve the natural world around us and even love it, to learn and create ourselves-- is it really so bazaar? This notion I hold that within us has been placed the drive to right the world as we find it (the same drive you feel every day to spur either action or inaction)-- that, you say, is foolishness, denying yourselves the right to hope and give broader meaning than survival or historical significance to such tasks as education and environmentalism and social justice.

While we're on the topic, I must say that I appreciate all you're doing, especially in regard to that which many of my God-believing community is not: specifically in your pursuit of knowledge and betterment of our world here and now, not waiting around for the redeeming (or extinction, depending which circle you're in) of our world by an other. If, in fact, you read the man-written text I call holy for yourself, depending not on what you heard your mother or grandmother say (or more importantly, act) on the subject, it actually calls believers to do exactly that-- meaning that I believe many could be said to be "doing the work of God" in your daily good-will and endeavors. The real truth of it is that, we, too, (as in, the faith community) are human: stupid, clutching onto whatever material things might make us happy for a time, blind to our privilege, abilities, and most importantly, our duties or mission, other than that raising of hands that aggravates you so. Or perhaps it is the outreach that bothers you most, insistence upon a particular belief system that names certain acts as sinful and what not. If we were to all abstain from religious thought of an afterlife or any reward for good-doing, you must realize that it's just as likely for humans to resort back to a self-preservation of the most intimate nature of selfishness, rather than a devotion to education and reason to create a utopia based on general principles of love.

In fact, I believe it to be sound logic to assert that the human race, with its capitalist, self-preserving, climb-to-the-top-of-the-pile personality, would find ample ways to destroy both each other and the world, faith or not (as I assume in your ideal world there would be no religion whatsoever). My argument is not at all against your science or reason, it's against this hopelessness you perpetuate in your we are not anything unique among the rest of the universe propaganda that at best is cause for some to make a name for themselves in history as a means of self-preservation (which has been cause of some real advancements), and at worst the catalyst for mass apathy, depression, and a sense of worthlessness to any kind of daily pursuit (why? Why does it really matter?). Beings raised with no hope at all are blinded, like the apostle Paul on the day of his conversion, in the light of your overt proclaiming of our brief (and not at all special) appearance on the stage of the universe, as opposed to those whose endeavors to better the world are (or better stated, should be) based on bringing the kingdom of heaven here on earth, that their daily pursuits matter for the future when we believe all things will be righted and perfect under an authority who has the power to do such a thing--a God who calls us to such perfect simplicities as community and caring.

I say all this to point out that we actually want the same thing: that the existence of all species in the world be given their right to live as lovely a life as possible and the ceasing of that which destroys that ability. Our primary clash is, of course, that you believe faith to trap and blind, while I see faith as a means to free us from those tangible, material things which (I know you would agree) are nothing but distraction from what really matters in the (you may interpret the term in its most physical, literal way) salvation of our world--for your (such as I accused) selfish, life-preserving, intelligent-bound reasons, to which I concretely relate (eternal damnation being an ill-used but effective method of self-preservation indeed).

Love your Christian neighbour,
Joni