The term atheism means different things to different people. For most the word suggests the lack of belief in god. Sometimes this means that one is agnostic, other times it means that one is confident that no one created the universe. It could just mean that someone is confident that the gods that people believe in are fake whether or not something else exists.
You could put me in that last category, but for me atheism is much more. For me, it’s a rejection of the false confidence that comes with absolutism. I don’t know how the universe ultimately works. I do have some ideas as to how it doesn’t work (but those are probably wrong too, and I know it). I don’t have the solution to all of our political problems, and I’m confident that anyone who says they do is full of it. For me, atheism isn’t just the rejection of absolute knowledge. It’s the rejection of the all-encompassing solution. It’s the rejection of the salvation of humanity, not in the Christian sense but in the sense that there is any salvation at all.
To put it differently, you’re a human. Together we are humans. Our nations are made up of humans, etc. And humans, you have probably noticed, are a beautifully messed up bunch. They do wonderful things. They give their time and money not only to their friends, but to strangers. They sacrifice themselves for the undeserving. They show astonishingly powerful love. And then they do the commit unspeakable horrors that keep the cable news business operating.
Concerning the latter, and the fact that all of us do both good and evil (even those you’d think were too lazy to do either), people are often trying to offer a solution. It generally goes like this: If everyone would just believe such and such. Or, if everyone would just treat their spouses like this. If everyone would vote for this group and not that group... then everything would be wonderful! Whatever the recipe, the imagined result is always some kind of utopia. This is one of the ways I’m sure the world doesn’t work.
All of these solutions (these salvations) are gods. Maybe the god is a political figure. Maybe it’s a set of moral values. Maybe it’s religion or an economic system. Maybe it’s gluten free bread. My atheism rejects these salvations.
There is no salvation. Whatever the Gospels say, the Christians still thirst. They don’t have any more peace than anyone else. That's not to be critical. It’s not like they’re the only ones making false claims. They're not the only ones believing their own false claims and expecting others to do likewise. Plexus anyone?
This fog is everywhere. It’s so pervasive that even when one discovers that one god isn’t real the assumption is that there must be another god (metaphysical or otherwise). This is obvious in religion where Christians bounce from one version of Christianity to another. Young Christians notoriously reject whatever horrible way their parents’ generation loved Jesus. Their version will, in turn, be rejected by their children. But it’s not just that we seek to worship something and that the object or manner of worship changes. It’s that we seek salvation from our own humanity, and if it’s not coming from Jesus or artificial sweeteners than it just has to come from yoga or green tea. Or at least, so we seem to think.
Atheism is the knowledge that none of the pills are going to work - at least not as well as all that. True, some forms of treatment will probably be better than others. Confession to a priest has had historical problems, but its record is better than crystal meth. Whatever the treatment, you’ll still be human when the dose wears off. You’ll need more morphine. You’ll want to say the sinners prayer again. You’ll need “just one more hit” of Doctor Who or whatever your fancy happens to be.
Nothing in this mall of ideas is going to give us peace. If everyone had the same logo imprinted on their souls the world would still be more or less as screwed up as it currently is. I don’t know what provides more comfort or moral development, Buddha or New Coke, but I am confident that neither is going to solve the world’s woes. Are woes still a thing?
So, when I said earlier that “the more atheist I become, the less religion bothers me,” what I meant was this. I don’t believe in an ideal world towards which we are striving. I don’t think perfection is possible. Therefore, I don’t think I ought to take imperfections too seriously. Everyone I’ve ever met both believed in stupid things and behaved in stupid ways. Paul said that he was the chief of sinners, but that’s only because he knew his imperfections better than he knew anyone else's. I wish he had said he was the chef of sinners. #SoHungry