Poetic as well as poignant

I was reading a blog the other day and came across this comment by a guy called Steve Zara. I thought it quite poetic as well as poignant and so have decided to post it here.

"I don't claim to know what is inside the mind of others, but we can get some idea.

Faith is based, in my opinion, on fear. Fear of loneliness, death, insignificance. Now believers may say that their faith is strong, but if you start to look at faith, it's fascinating how its fragility is revealed.

If faith was solid, funerals would be times of joy, not despair.

If faith was true, there would be no prayers, as there would be trust in God to do what is right.

If faith was secure, there would be no blasphemy, as how could God be vulnerable to offence?

If faith was really felt, there would be no need for churches, as God is everywhere. There would be no need for preachers to interpret the wishes of a god who actually existed.

Finally, if faith was true, there would be no need for faith. There is no need to have faith in a god that exists, just as there is no need to have faith in a house-brick. The brick exists.

Religious faith is it's own disproof. Because if it had foundation, none of the attributes of religion would be needed.

Religious faith itself should be only evidence we really need to convince us that the faithful really aren't that faithful.

No wonder they dislike atheists. Of course they dislike us. We break the taboo, we point out the nakedness of the emperor, and in doing that we show the intellectual and emotional nakedness of the faithful.

Faith is fear. It is like the fear of flying. In planes across the world, so many people grab hold of arm-rests with white knuckles, trying to keep the plane in the air through wishing. That's religious faith; it's flying through life wishing that there will be no crash, and that the flight will go on forever. We atheists know we are falling, and we have no parachutes. But we are determined to enjoy the scenery while we can."

Steve Zara