An Atheist's Convictions

I am convinced that there is only one reality and that reality is the world we experience through our senses and the instruments that extend them.[There is no heaven or hell. The supernatural does not exist.]

I am convinced that the laws of nature are consistent laws and that nature makes no special dispensations for humans.
[The universe is orderly. There are no miracles.]

I am convinced that there is no division between humans and nature; that ideals generated by humans are as much a part of nature as flowers.
[Plato was wrong. Idealism is a human invention and natural.]

I am convinced that rational thought leads to a moral life.
[Faith that there is a god who punishes evildoers is not the only way to morality.]

I am convinced that human investigation and reason are our best guides to the truth of the natural world.
[Science rather than religion is the way to real understanding.]

I am convinced that humans bring the ideas of Truth, Goodness, Beauty and Love into this world. Although those ideas are never completely realized they are the goals that give direction and meaning to life.

We use the word conviction rather than belief because the former means a statement that arises out of rational processes while the latter suggests something achieve by an act of faith.

It is also our conviction that the position held by atheists and agnostics is more than a negative one of rejection of religion.