What is Proof? I am often asked why I do not believe in God. The reasoning behind this is the same reasoning that applies to everything I say and do (most of the time, I act too, ya know) For me, the world is either true or false. Something is true, or it isn’t. There is no middle ground for me. So, then I am asked, how do you know that God isn’t real? To this, I state that I have no reason to believe in him, no evidence. You cannot plot god on a graph, you cannot grow strains of god in a laboratory. So they say, prove that he isn’t real! The fact is, I already have. By not having any proof for him, how can he exist? I do not have any evidence to support God, so he is not real. This usually prompts them to say something witty like “I think getting shot hurts. I have never been shot, so I don’t know that it hurts. It’s the same thing, asshole!” To answer this, I turn to my sack of electrons. I look all around me, I see references to people getting shot and being in pain. I hear about people telling how they got shot and how much it hurt. Its all over the TV and in books. But this doesn’t prove anything, does it? It’s the same story for religion. However, I know that people die from getting shot. I see them bleed, I hear their shouts of agony. I notice that they cannot move and function as they once could. All of these things I HAVE experienced, and I know that all of these are sure signs of pain. So I have gotten shot, indirectly. If the other person is intelligent at all, I get “Well, I experience God. I know that he is real.” That’s good for you, but it does nothing for me. I have not experienced God. I have never felt his hand on my shoulder, I have never heard his words in my ears. I have never even felt reassured by the idea that there is someone out there who loves me. So, to me, god is not real. I have not felt god, I have not seen him, have not heard him. I haven’t tasted or smelled him either. He has never warmed my soul. In short, I have no evidence for him, so he is not real. I do not need any more proof for myself. This applies to everything, not just religion. I make decisions based upon the information that I have, and the information that I believe I can trust provided to me by others. Obviously, I value my own observations first. If I don’t have proof for something, its not real, even if everyone else in the world does. [Think] Previous Rant Index

Additional Information Some informal complaints that I decided to write down.

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