Children believe in the Easter bunny, too, then they learn better.
If someone wants to believe in the Easter bunny or God or a rock, if they get comfort from those beliefs, it’s truly not my concern as long as their beliefs are not hurting others.
What worries me is when those believers tell me I most believe the same or when they use their collective powers to force me and others to unwillingly follow their path through legislation. Or, when they use an excuse of faith to elect officials who undermine my rights and the rights of others; when they choose immoral candidates to advance their religious beliefs while being fully aware of the gross failings of those candidates and the extreme danger they can and are doing.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that is not happening. I know deeply religious Christians who admit that Trump and others in his administration are unethical, scheming, money-hungry bigots, liars, cheats, and philanderers, but still believe that these evil beings can and are doing the work of God. (Funny, how they didn’t believe Obama was doing the work of God.) Or, they overlook completely any tie between politicians and God and only pay attention to what they can gain (always money and power) from those unethical people for whom they voted, all the while claiming their faith.
Never in my piece did I address people who believe and do good and decent works based on those beliefs — people who are compassionate, generous, and self-sacrificing. There are people who use their belief in God/Jesus/whomever to do great humanitarian work and there are those who use their belief to justify their works of evil, their desire to control entire populations, their need to win at all costs. I see more and more of these scoundrels claiming religious piety when they are only playing a game at the cost of many lives. If these people truly believe in the Judeo-Christian god and still act as they do and if their god allows them to harm others, especially on a massive scale, I cannot believe in that god. I do not trust that god.
Believe what you want but your belief ends where my belief or nonbelief begins.
