There is no God

Bad Choices Make Good Stories: Going to New York, Chapter 13

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices, but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence and fulfills the duty to express the results of his thought in clear form."

"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions."

"I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation."

Albert Einstein

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"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.  The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality."

George Bernard Shaw

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"All religions are equally sublime to the ignorant, useful to the politician, and ridiculous to the philosopher."

Lucretius

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"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful."

Seneca the Younger

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."

Napoleon Bonaparte

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"I am convinced that I am acting as the agent of our Almighty Creator.  By fighting the Jews, I am doing the Lord's work."

Adolf Hitler

Alice didn't really talk to her mother anymore, but she talked to her grandma Gina in Tennessee a lot. When she told Gina she was afraid to go to Hawaii, Gina asked to talk to me. Alice gave her my number.

Gina called me and asked me about my intentions with Alice. I explained to her how I felt about her granddaughter, and that I wanted to show her a better life and convince her to get sober.

We talked for over two hours. She wanted to know more about me, so I told her about my alcoholic father and how he had been the perfect negative role model,  and that he made me want to be a better man than him, because I wanted to be nothing like him.

And I told her what it was like to be married to Donna. And about my experiences with the girls I had met before Alice. 

Gina could tell that I was not just some sleazy guy trying to get in her granddaughter's pants. She could tell I was sincere and that I genuinely cared about Alice. She understood that I didn't just see Alice as some drug addicted whore and I didn't just want to use her as my vacation sex toy. Gina loved me. 

She was a very religious woman and told me she believed God had sent me to save Alice's life. She literally called me an angel sent by God. I was flattered, but it also made me feel pretty awkward.

I was honest with her and told her I'm not religious at all. I told her I don't mind if other people believe in God and it enriches their lives. It just doesn't do anything for me.

The one thing I didn't tell her was that when I was a teenager, my hacker name used to be Lucifer. Gina probably would have flipped out and tried to perform an exorcism on me.

She couldn't understand why I don't believe in God. I guess she had never really met someone who didn't believe in something that was so fundamental in her own life.

I told her that I grew up in Northern Europe, and people over there are far less religious than Americans. To most Europeans, the Bible is really nothing more than a book of ancient fables, similar to Grimm's Fairy Tales.

To many Europeans, it's bizarre that so many Americans still believe in gods, devils, angels and demons. It's like Americans are stuck in the Dark Ages.