I'm an atheist - a disbeliever in a supreme being - because I can see no rational nor logical nor scientific reason for such a belief. As far as religion is concerned, which is a positive expression of such a belief, it has always appeared to me to be become a method of controlling a society and making it conform to a set of practices. Now - I'm under no illusions that all societies are subject to some form of control and conformity - else anarchy would reign - but I'd much rather be subject to a set of agreed rules which are not driven by an irrational belief in a non-existent supreme being. State, and not Church, in other words. Rules, the making of which I can participate in and help to modify (in an ideal world).

Religious extremism - which is more usually the topic which sets Mudcat on fire - is the ultimate expression of the desire to control and impose conformity. I abhor it.

The question of morality has often been put to me by religious people in discussions of belief and unbelief. "How can you possibly behave in a moral way", goes the argument, "without basic concepts of Good and Evil to lead you?" As far as I'm concerned, there is one simple rule by which I try and live: Treat others as you want to be treated yourself. Charles Kingsley's 'Mrs DoAsYouWouldBeDoneBy', in short, and I don't believe that I need much more of a precept to distinguish right from wrong. I make no claim to always do right - I can be as naughty as anyone, given half a chance - but I'm under no illusions about what I'm doing.

As far as being tolerant - as an atheist - of people with religious faith is concerned, I have very mixed views. I think it very wrong that children, from the moment of their birth, are indoctrinated with religious beliefs. Of course every child has to be brought up to distinguish good and bad behaviour as defined by the society in which it lives, but - as far as religions are concerned - no child should be subject to religious influence. Not for nothing do the Jesuits say, "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man" (Francis Xavier). Views inculcated at an early age are difficult to shrug off in later life. For those of you who are religious, ask yourself why you are the religion you are. Unless you've been converted in later life, for most of you the answer will probably be that it's an accident of birth. I happened to be born into a family who were ostensibly Church of England. If I'd been born in, say, Italy, it's highly likely I would have been born into a Catholic family. If I'd been born in Tel Aviv, it's highly likely I'd be Jewish and, if in Baghdad, a Muslim. Divine Providence or accident?

And which of these is "Right" and which of these is "Wrong"? As far as I'm concerned, seeing the irrational behaviour of my own "CofE" family, with its prejudices against Catholics and Jews, etc., the whole shebang was to be devoutly avoided!

I genuinely believe that, when I die, the atoms that have made me will return to the cosmos and reappear, millions of times, in millions of different forms, and in completely arbitrary ways. The span of my life, in cosmological terms, is less than a blink, and religion is to me a cumbersome, man-made and irrelevant construct.