Dear people who don't believe in God:

"The time appears to me to have come when it is the duty of all to make their dissent from religion known"
-John Stuart Mill, 2 centuries ago

"Today it's time to stop singing and start swinging!"
-some muslim, last century(j/k it's Malcolm X lol)

You were born an atheist. If you weren't taught to fall in love with god, you fell in love with being alive instead. It might've been when you met your best friend or heard the best music you'd ever heard or experienced sex or shot up smack for the first time- or somewhere in between- maybe life affirming experiences happen more often for you.

Then you found out about religion and you thought 'LOL WUT?' and kept on living like you want to. Maybe you had the reaction  'Well, whatever gets you through the night'. But I ask-  I insist- for those of you who are living like atheists, but not speaking out about it, to do so. Why?

Because religion is wrong. It's not wrong like betting on the wrong team, or even doing 'morally wrong things'. It's wrong because it's an insult to being alive. It's an insult to experience, discovery, imagination and what people used to call "free-thought".

Imagine the moments of joy, adventure, affirmation, confusion, self-discovery, fear, and truth in your life being put through the filter: 'What does my religion say about this?'. That is how religious people live!The atheist's way of viewing the world is expansive and vast, and only limited by time. The religionist's way of viewing the world is confined and strict, in the hope of living FOREVER. What kind of a life is that?

Religion hurts religious people, it doesn't help them. They look at the world around them and think 'This is just where I have to hang around until I receive eternal bliss'. You look at the world and see something much more. You see possibilities, you see struggle and perseverance, you see progress, and you know you're only gonna be here for a little while longer to experience it. You see the world as it really is.

Don't you?