I believe. Belief is an act of my conscious mind but there is no part of this mind that can believe blindly. I cannot believe in something because I am told it is true, because it just is, because men writing hundreds, even thousands of years ago say it is so.

I believe that we live in a world devoid of the gods preached to us by the men of god. I believe that this world was not created by a supreme being, that we were not designed at the hands of a supernatural god, that there is a difference between the miraculous and miracles - one of which we see often and the other, never.

The men of god like to label people like me – they call me an atheist. I embrace this label not because it defines me, but because it distances me. I am lucky. History tells us people like me have not fared well at the hands of god's just men. Why is it that men of god are deemed to walk the path of righteousness and I am an infidel, cynic, disbeliever, dissenter, doubter, heathen, heretic, idolater, idolist, materialist, misanthrope, misbeliever, nihilist, pagan, pessimist, profaner, scoffer, skeptic, unbeliever – all words this language synonymously associates with this label of atheist. Why do you persist in telling me you are right my friend and that I am wrong?

I believe because my intellectual mind has reasoned; from what I see, from my ability to think and analyse information. I have faith, faith in my ability to know my own self and not be manipulated because of ancient texts constructed by men. Do I need these texts to know right from wrong, do I even need to be told what is right from wrong? Am I threatened by the devices of heaven and hell, of course not – I have no desire for immortality. Do I feel threatened that for so long the worship of god has been the way - of course not, I see the sincerity with which gods have been worshipped and I see what comes of it. You will die one day, just as I.

I believe this mind is my own. It is defined as is my physical form by hundreds and thousands of years, fighting on this earth for existence, my wants and desires are defined by instincts and governed by my evolved intellect.

I truly believe my friend. I would rather not have to explain your religions, or your gods, but what I believe is shaped by your need for gods, you say so, I am an atheist remember. I will not tell you that you are wrong, but I will tell you how I came to this belief and from there your mind is your own.

My society is born of a religion named Christianity, although there now seem so many names that define what this religion has evolved into. As a child this religions stories were read to me, I grew in a culture that is an evolution of Christian ways distilled by intellectual minds and the passage of time. My first conscious images were of Christian gods and my first songs were in their worship. My first words read and spoken honoured these gods. Images and doctrine of this belief wormed its way into my psyche and I grew up beneath this god's banner.

But as this mind emerged and defined its will, Christian doctrine seemed to ill fit my existence. The rules of my life were defined by dogma but they felt unnatural - am I not defined by my intellectual mind? Somehow I believed it must have been me that was wrong. I carried guilt – this is the way it has always been, these are the rules, conform. But this is a restless mind, what right does this dogma preached by men have over this mind, just because my for-fathers say this is so, when their spoken dogma seems to change based on the will and wants of whichever mouth it falls from. What is this Christianity that permeates this civilisation, has determined I follow blindly, has made me feel different for knowing my mind.

I believe, in myself foremost and so began the journey to understanding this religion, and I started with its books - these testaments to a faith, the Old and the New.

In the Old I found a great collection of stories accumulated over time, of beasts and great deeds and woe, tales of human endeavour at the hands of a malevolent and fickle god, that were laced with the miraculous and of miracles. These were great stories crafted by men and passed down through time by man, at first through word of mouth and then by the invention of alphabet, and the written word. This written word that has evolved through migration and time through interpretation and translation, has become what it is today through the understanding of these stories by men living in a world much changed, that speak in a different tongue and live in cultures and a time far removed from those they were written in.

In the New book of testament I found confusion and contradiction, a different god – benevolent and just, for those that would seek salvation. Study showed the messages of these Gospels to be the only recorded history of this man they call Jesus. Each one tells a conflicting story born from a desire for this Jesus to be a messiah – Christ - the anointed one. And this is where Christian problems begin. The Jews that created the scripture of the Old Testament reject Christian for-fathers claims that this Jesus was the messiah. The messiah in the Old Testament is prophesied as a great warrior that will free Jews from oppressive rule, not one word is mentioned of a messiah that would die hanging from a cross, a convicted criminal. It is there for all to see, all you have to do is read - they know you won't.

Out of a desire to fulfil Jesus as the prophesied messiah Christian for-fathers wove into their Gospels contradictions and fictions to align him with great figures of the Old; Jesus born in Bethlehem fulfilling the line through King David, with Moses through the slaughter of infant children, the flight to Egypt and the return, John's Gospel even changing the day and time of the crucifixion to make the death of Jesus the passover slaughter of a lamb. We could go on and on – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, nobody even knows who really wrote these Gospels. These names are just labels above stories told by men at the want of men.

Of course a follower of this faith would be able to quote all sorts of parables and prophecies in ratifying their belief – but that is their folly. They seem happy to just read what they are told, a chapter here, a verse there: Psalms and Isaiah - just listen to a weekly sermon and your obligation is fulfilled, salvation is a promise. We do not need science to deconstruct religion my friend the truth is its own words. You simply have to read all the words and not just those that say what you want to hear.

But what of miracles - extraordinary events in the physical world, surpassing all known human or natural powers, ascribed to a supernatural cause. Or what about the miraculous - events defined as wondrous that seem as a miracle but within the confines of human endeavour. A man walking on water is truly a miracle, a child dragged from the rubble of an earthquake is truly miraculous but nothing that cannot be explained within the boundaries of human endeavour - not supernatural.

The most profound of miracles has to be the resurrection of Jesus, which by definition would have to be an act undertaken by a supernatural being. The resurrection is the foundation upon which Christianity is built, it demonstrates that god must exist because he brought Jesus back from the dead, it proves that there can be salvation after death for the righteous.

The conundrum of course is who resurrected Jesus? We know it wasn't the malevolent god of the Old Testament - would the fickle Yahweh resurrect this man falsely claimed as the messiah. So who's god would have resurrected this Jewish man named Jesus? The only people that have ever believed Jesus was resurrected are the people that created the resurrection story. The reality as with all the miracle stories in both Testaments, is that they are simply tales written by men to prove what they believe and in order to do that the acts need to be fantastical - supernatural.

I believe. In a world inhabited by mankind little can be taken at face value. It is difficult enough knowing a truth reported from yesterdays news, to blindly trust the word of men written hundreds of years ago. The knowledge of man has grown but the acts, wants and desires of men remain the same. The Christian faith is simply a construct of men disenfranchised with Judaism, which was in itself created by a race needing a faith of their own. Who could blame them, they lived in a world where a god seemed the only rational explanation, each race set about creating gods that reflected the needs of their own societies.

Maybe there can be some good to this though, maybe there is some collective benefit to mankind in man's religious creed. Are we not taught these religions define right and wrong, of a better good. But then we look at the history of men and their religion and we simply see mankind's desire for power, manipulation, war, control, torture, bloodshed, genocide, money, murder, distortion, extortion, brainwashing – social control.

You may say these are just the acts of men, that men would do these things regardless or religion, and that is true – that is the point. This is a world devoid of gods, just one populated with the human mind.

I believe. If you look at the people of religion in this snapshot of human time and you ask yourself is this god's want? Is this what I am told god teaches us, is this a manifestation of these doctrines for a greater good.

You will tell me there really is something beautiful about your religion, that you see it everyday in the acts of your fellow worshippers, but I would tell you, good is in all mankind just as we see the bad.

My friend, as I flick through history and live in this world I see all that man has done to mankind in the name of his gods; I say to you, if your gods stepped from the very clouds tomorrow and proved all I believe to be wrong - I would still say to you, you are welcome to your gods.

I believe. You would say to me that there must be something else - there is nothing else. We are born, we live and we die. It is the way of nature. Do your best, smile, live your life, be yourself, do not judge people because you do not understand, or because they are different. Do not force your belief on child nor adult, give those around you something to smile about, long after your time has passed.

This is what I believe.