To Each His Own

There are certain subjects that I tend to avoid here on my blog, due to the fact that I do not wish to alienate anyone who reads it. But, due to certain events, I really think I need to address one of them right now. However, unlike my ignorant counterparts who have ignited this aggrevation within me, I will address the subject without being derogatory towards anyone, but merely to express my point of view and justify why it is so. Therefore, I do hope no one takes offense to what I am about to address, for you must know that I am not condemning those who do not agree with me, I'm simply defending myself.

So you must be asking, what is this ever-forbidden subject? Well here it is:
RELIGION!
Dun dun dunnnnnnnn...

For those of you reading my blog who don't personally know me and therefore are not aware of my notorious religious views, I am, indeed, an Atheist.

"OH MY GOD DID SHE JUST SAY THE 'A' WORD?!"

Just for the sake of the following post, allow me to give you the exact definition of an Atheist:
a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings.

Let's take a side note here, shall we? NO WHERE in that definition does it say ANY of the following:
A person who burns crosses in his or her spare time, a person who hates all aspects of life, a person who despises all religious people, a person who will burst into flames if stepping into a church, a person who knows nothing about the bible or any aspect of religion, or a person who is completely antisocial and will one day turn into a crazed serial killer.

Contrary to popular belief, I'm not a hermit who lives in my dark room sinisterly lit by candles, carving "THERE IS NO GOD" onto my walls with a knife, while plotting my attack on the closest Christian gathering. No, I'm actually a very normal, very functional teenage girl who is just about as generic in behavior as our perceived population. The only difference is, I don't believe in God. Yet to SOME people, this difference makes me some other-worldly creature, one that isn't understood and one that is judged very quickly. And frankly, it's starting to piss me off.
Being an Atheist, you can imagine that I usually have to keep my opinions to myself, I take quite a bit of questioning and arguements from overly-religious close minded people, and I honestly have to have quite a great deal of self-control to stop myself from snapping and going off on a rant whenever I hear some delusional Catholic rambling on and on about how God will save us all. (Let me point out I'm most certainly not calling all religious people close-minded or delusional. I'm just saying that there are some like that, just as there are some hermit-like homicidal Atheists, while I am not one of them.) But there are certain little things here and there that just really push my buttons, and one of those little things happened today.
Like you do when you're a bored 16 year old girl, I was on Facebook filling out a survey for a note. The girl who took it before me, who is a notorious republican and Christian, neither being a particularly favorable quality in my eyes, answered one question as follows:

What makes you angry?
Atheism. Why do people have to be so efffing stupid?

I'm sorry, but...what the fuck. Is that really necessary? Is it really necessary for you to condemn MY beliefs and the beliefs of thousands of others just because you don't agree with them? It's not even that she said that the actual theory of Atheism upsets her, which I would be perfectly fine with considering that the theory of Catholicism and Christianity and Islam and Judaism and so on all upset me for I believe religion to be nothing more than an organized business to scare people into giving up their money and keeping their minds shut. But no, this girl calls the actual PEOPLE stupid. According to her, my intelligence level is greatly inferior to all others based purely on the fact that I'm an Atheist. Well honey, not to be rude, but not only is that one of the dumbest theories I've ever heard, but I could be a fucking Scientologist and still have a higher IQ than you.
I never speak ill about Christians or Catholics or Muslims or whoever, because they are PEOPLE, and who they are, how they act, and what the will contribute to the world is not defined by what deities they believe in. It's the ideas that irk me; the idea that some supernatural being just created this entire planet and everything in it. We don't understand half of what goes on in life or why it goes on, so how ignorant does it seem for us to assume that we even know how the very objects we DON'T understand got here in the first place?!
Don't get me wrong, there are indeed some ignorant Atheists. They're the ones you hear saying "Christians are stupid" "Priests are perverts" "If you believe in God then you're dumb." I'm not one of those and I will never be one of those. That's why it upsets me so when the religious equivalent to these people, the ones like this girl I know calling Atheists stupid, do this to me. I don't condemn you for what you believe, so why do I deserve it? Because I'm different? Because I don't conform? Because I challenge the common belief? I'm sorry for having my own thoughts, but this is where they have lead me and I'm quite happy with what I believe and what I don't believe. I don't feel an emptiness inside because I haven't "found God." In the words of Forrest Gump, "I didn't know I was s'posed to be lookin' for him sir." So why, WHY, do you INSIST on thrusting your views upon me? What makes you so confident that you're right? The Bible? Well, believe it or not, I have indeed read the Bible (because, you know, I like to do this thing where I make informative decisions) and reading "And then God said let there be light, and it was so" really just doesn't push me into the believer section. I have a very scientific mind, and I require a tad more evidence than "and it was so."
Now I have many religious friends. I'd say that the majority of my friends are religious. Yet, we're still friends. How is this so? An Atheist and a Christian living in peace? Well it's because my friends and I, we possess this amazing thing called "tolerance" and perhaps if everyone gave this a shot, I wouldn't hate religion as much as I do.
Take for example my friend Kylee; Kylee's religious. She believes in God, heaven, the whole deal. Kylee's also one of my best friends. Kylee and I are a perfect example of toleration. She listens to my views, she accepts them and does not condemn them, for they are my personal views and she knows that in my believing of them, I am in no way saying that she is stupid for what she believes, and vice versa. Kylee wears religious bracelets, crosses for necklaces, her father's service that I went to was very religious, and not for one moment am I ever bothered. Those are her beliefs and she is entitled to them, and I know that by believing in God she is not condemning me whatsoever. I don't take it personally, and that's what I think is a major issue. People take things way too seriously, things that aren't even directed towards them. Religion is an idea, not WHO YOU ARE. By saying "I don't agree with Christianity" I am NOT saying "YOU OVER THERE, THE ONE WEARING THE JESUS BRACELET! I DON'T LIKE YOU!" That's what I don't think people understand.

So ignorant survey-filling-out girl, you know who you are and I do hope you read this. Perhaps it will enlighten you. Perhaps it'll just increase your disdain for Atheists. Whatever the case may be, I guess I'd just like to thank you, for if it weren't for mindless people such as yourself, I may have never had so much evidence to convince me to be an Atheist, and then I'd be just like you...

So thanks for saving me from that dreadful fate ;)