In what some would classify as my descent into agnosticism or atheism, I am troubled by the virulence and resentment by the hyper-religious into my questioning their beliefs. Some are fuming, some spiteful, some simply bewildered.

I find this confusing. What bearings do my beliefs, or lack thereof, have on anyone’s faith? Unless it is because I (and the Constitution) insist on your keeping your faith in your way and I in mine, then don’t bother reading on, nothing will change your perspective. If you’ve an open mind, carry on.

Why do some believe? Why embrace a practice I see as without a firm foundation in facts?

But then it occurred to me that the true progenitor of faith is hope. Hope that there is more than this brief life. Hope that there is something greater than what we experience here on this planet.

When Pandora opened the box, and all the evil, pestilence, diseases, and death infected the world, the last thing that arose was hope.

Some seem to believe that they have done something wrong (in Christianity they have a name for it, Original sin) and most spend their lifetime atoning for it. Would a loving God visit the sins of the father (or in Eve’s case, the mother) on their children?

I think when I argue against the existence of God (particularly in the Christian sense, since that is the dominate faith in this country) people who embrace the faith perceive it as someone trying to take away hope.

It would explain why people persist in praying absent one iota of evidence of its efficacy.

It would explain why people expound vociferously with passages from the Bible, as if they alone prove the point.

It would explain all the ceremony, pageantry, and emotional pleadings over Sunday services (and Saturday for those who cannot give up football on Sunday).

These all are reinforcing the power of Hope.

If I pray the right way.

If I live the right way.

If I express my faith for all to hear, I have hope of a better life after death.

Religion is not the only path to hope. At least not the concept of the Judeo-Christian tradition some believe dominant, and necessary, in this country.

There are other paths. Buddhist, Hindu, Zoroastrian, Transcendental Meditation, Stoicism, and others all offer hope for peace and fulfillment in this life and something better later. Some recognize this may be all there is.

I would argue it is this insistence that America be a Christian based government that creates much of our problems. Our self-inflicted separation from those we don’t understand creates a sense of us vs. them. Of a need to purge the country of those who differ from us.

But if we really thought about it, we are all the same.

Just because I, and others, do not embrace any faith, does not mean we are stealing away hope. Think of it this way: if one person doubting the validity of faith can deny hope to the faithful, how certain is that faith?

I think wondering about what happens once we check out is natural. I think having hope there is some form of existence after we die is normal. No one wants it to end. But the flavor of one’s faith is irrelevant.

If there is a God, or Gods, capable of designing the universe, all the rules of physics, and all that it holds, of creating millions of species, of being the God who creates minds who can write things like,

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

would they worry about being adored?

If there is such a being, they would not be in the least bit concerned with being worshipped or venerated by one tiny element of creation. In fact, it is more likely they’d be amused, or perhaps a bit annoyed, by the arrogance of such practice.

Or not notice it at all.

Want to worship the creator? Want to express the ultimate level of devotion to creation? Treat everyone you meet as you would have them treat you. Respect the dignity of every human, no matter the differences.

Then, on the off chance you find yourself in front of a being who will ask you what you did with this gift of life, you can say I lived every moment with regard for my fellow humans.

That might be a faith worth embracing.