I have been in several conversations recently with people from religious denominations, as well as people that subscribe to not following anything faith based. To put it simply, they do not believe in a God.
We have been fighting religious wars for centuries, failing to make our way towards a peaceful planet. The Crusades were fought for hundreds of years, before that pagans swept across Europe, raping and pillaging, England itself underwent uprisings for thousands of years as one group of warriors found one god, then moved on to another.
Faith is often described as a person's willingness to believe in something that can not be proved scientifically, can not be described in physical form. It is only about belief.
Star Wars, a movie and story by George Lucas, describes the "Force" moving through all living things. It's not a man sitting in a shiny throne, there are no human figures warring above us and causing us to fall.
I'm not telling you to trust in the Force, Luke. I'm simply showing the possibility that we don't have to believe in some giant that could crush us with one hand.
But we should probably believe in something.
Yes, I'm siding with religious folk. I think that we should have a goal to strive for, something to make life meaningful instead of meaningless, a code that we as humans should have to become better people.
Better may not mean "peaceful" however. I believe that inherent in our genes is the want and need for violence, rage, and some form of action. Without it we would not be human at all.
If you're reading this and you don't believe in God, maybe you should focus on believing in something, and it doesn't quite have to be something you can't see or feel.
To quote the Beatles, and to end on a sappy note:
"All you need is love..."
