Here it is, another week and another opinion. Once again, inspired by Ed Norton.

That's right - we're going back to Fight Club and theology. Or at least theology. Let's start with our premise.

God is dead, insofar as he ever existed.

I don't understand, nor do I particularly want to, why people must have something to believe in. Is it that hard to believe that we might not be here for a reason? That the fact that we are here is a kind of cosmic hiccup? Why do so many people need to believe that there is an overarching deity watching over us all and guiding us?

I'm not talking about one specific sect or belief here. I'm talking about all people who profess a religion of any kind.

Part of my problem with the concept of religion is the fact that it implies that people are willing to give up their freedom to something that they have decided gave them life. ItÕs not even like how I choose to give up certain freedoms to the government, in exchange for which the government is expected to protect me and in a certain limited sense provide for my welfare. You have given up your freedom to behave in whatever fashion you see meet, fit, and appropriate (and IÕm talking behavior that does not directly harm others here, IÕm not saying religious people are murderers and thieves) in exchange for...

What?

There is no exchange going here. God had nothing to do with your creation. The fact that people evolved had nothing to do with God. If we cannot find one single scrap of objective evidence that God exists, then he doesn't exist. I do not count such bullshit statements as "The birds singing in the trees are proof of God." That's like saying "Because ice cream exists, Osama Bin Laden hates Americans."

Doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, does it? Neither one. The first statement is the sort of bullshit that proves nothing except that those who say it are idiots.

So let's look at what your belief that you were created by God gets you.

Obviously, it depends on what you believe, and I'm not going to go into every single religion in the world. We'll narrow it down to religions with an organized hierarchy of leaders and functionaries, and we'll specify it to Catholicism, as that's the religion I've seen in action. Plus they have a lot of functionaries.