Lest Ye Think I’m a Bible-Thumping Right-Winger

Over on AR15.com, someone asked a series of questions of those of us who are non-believers (and if you have to ask “Non-believers of what?” where have you been the last couple of decades?). Sort of an eight-question quiz of the type that have been so, um, popular around the blogosphere of late.

Here are his questions (in bold) and my responses (in grey):

Our initial kickoff to the USA was the Declaration which says;

“WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”

*If you do not believe in such a Creator, how can you lay claim to any such unalienable rights as listed in the BOR.

I disagree with the source, not the rights.

If you do not believe in a Creator, how can you sing America the beautiful, Or the National Anthem? How do you pledge “one Nation under God”?

I sing them off-key, and I pledge “to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” The “under God” part was added after the fact, and I ignore it.

Do you think all this was an accident?

I think it just is, and very well could be the confluence of multiple unlikely conditions, but given the vastness of the universe I don’t find the odds all that daunting.

Do you think that miracles are impossible and things are a coincidence?

I think that “miracles” are what you call high-improbability events, not “acts of God.”

Do you not think there is any higher power?

Higher than what, exactly? Ever seen a quasar? Now THAT’s power.

What do you believe in?

I believe that human beings can accomplish whatever they set out to do.

Who/what do you turn to when things seem out of control?

Me, first. Family if necessary. But mostly I’m quite aware that I’m not in “control” – I’m along for the ride, and I can somewhat guide the path, but caca pasa and I deal with it when it does.

What do you think happens after death?

I honestly don’t know. Soon enough I’ll find out. I like to think that whatever it is that makes me “me” will continue on, or come back and be recycled, but there’s no evidence of this that I accept as factual. As far as I can tell, when I’m gone all that will remain of me is the memories I leave in the minds of others, and the things that I have accomplished in my time here. (I have no offspring, nor do I plan to have any.) I’m quite OK with that.

Your thoughts?