A memory:

I grew up in an atheist household. Religion was never an issue.
I never knew about gods and religion (other than that there were children in my street who weren't allowed to play on Sundays) until I got my first religion classes at primary school, which, being a state school, were purely informative classes, not trying to convert children. So we had classes about christianity, islam, buddhism, hinduism: very interesting. When I heard how many people were religious in this world, I remember thinking: hm, so many people believe, they can't be wrong, maybe I should join them? But I did not want to discriminate, and I did not know which religion to 'choose'.
I decided to sit down on a quiet place and let a god speak to me.
I did that for about two years, very seriously, but nothing ever happened, and I gave up.

Much later, I hear from christian friends that Jesus speaks to them on a daily basis. So unfair. Why would he be hiding from my 8-year-old self and speaking to others? :-)


Anyway, I'd just like to say that as an atheist (or maybe a closet agnostic), I take offense to the opinion of some contributors above that atheists have no purpose in life (other than hedonism) or that their lives are meaningless and empty. Humans are intelligent (well, so we think), can't we define our goals in life without reference to a deity? Is hedonism (but not to the expense of others of course) even such a bad aim? Someone once told me that she was surprised that I, as a non-believer, wasn't a criminal of some sorts, as if belief in God was the only thing to keep her from being evil. I think it's perfectly possible to lead a good, meaningful life as an atheist, I do not need a god for that, or a divine presence. Another person told me that she thought being an atheist would take all the wonder out of life. Why? I can still marvel at the beauty of nature (or shudder at its lesser attractive side), physics, music, arts.


To come back to the original question, hasn't the Pope said recently that God had turned away from mankind because of their sins? If anyone knows, it must be him :-)

Letty