The Atheist’s Catechism
What is your name ?
Freethinker
Who gave you this name ?
I gave it to myself
Who made you?
My mother and father, with help from evolution
Rehearse the articles of your belief :
I believe in logic and reason and the evidence of my own eyes and senses, and in the evidence of thinking people whom I trust.
Did anyone make promises on your behalf before you were of an age to understand them for yourself, which you consider binding ?
No. If promises are to bind me, I make them myself, in the fullest possible understanding of what I am accepting.
Do you accept commandments ?
I accept these: Obey the law. Do no hurt. Live as worthily as if there were a heaven or a hell, whilst knowing that there is surely neither.
Do you believe in prayer, sacraments, scriptures, grace, rituals, fasting, worship, penance, articles of faith, salvation, sacrifices, martyrs, saints ?
No. I truly believe that all these are superstition; living without these makes me free.
Who tells you what to believe ?
Nobody. I read, I study the beliefs and opinions of others, I analyse and compare, and I reach my own conclusions.
Do you not fear death ?
No. But if I did, whatever religions might offer me would not remove it.
What outward signs do you display of your beliefs ?
The cheerfulness of knowledge that I bear no burden of undeserved guilt.