CNN asks how strong my faith is

CNN is requesting submissions under the title How strong is your faith? This rather presumes that the respondents will have religious faith:

Are you one of the millions of people who live by faith? Do you believe religion is under attack in modern society? Have the lines blurred too much or not enough between religion and politics?

Share your thoughts about faith and the state of religion in the world. Plus, send us your photos and video to show others how you worship.

I responded anyway, with the following:

I live by faith in what is manifest, rather than by invisible, unprovable and improbable tales from the infancy of our civilization.

This universe is magnificent in its scale in time and space, and marvellous in the hard-won complexity of the life in this infinitesimal corner of it. It seems to me sad and absurd that so many people feel they must cling to the simple myths of times long past.

Our lives are brief, but a frantic denial of their inevitable end is as childish as insisting that we are the entire point of the universe. I am reveling in my time, sharing the excitement of discovery with the other brief sparks I encounter, loving the wonderful accident that put me here. I need no faith in another life, my cup overflows in this one.

If others need their ancient, well-worn, classical hand-tooled lies to comfort them, then they are welcome to them. I won't pretend to respect them for it, and I certainly do not respect the silly fables themselves. If the religious try to impose their arbitrary beliefs on society through politics, I shall naturally oppose them, especially when their ideas detrimentally impact the lives of me and mine, or indeed anyone who suffers.

I don't believe religion is truly under attack; it is simply no longer receiving the unwarranted deference it has grown accustomed to. I consider that a very good thing which will in the end benefit us all, excepting perhaps those who derive a living or a spurious authority from the promulgation of ancient lies and mistakes.

My faith is strong, since it is rooted in the provable, not in old myths.