I Think Therefore I Am An Atheist

Published by Stephen Milward in Life · Friday 10 Apr 2026 · 4 minutes
Tags: Atheism, Philosophy, Belief, Existence, Reason, Critical, Thinking, Religion, Identity, Self, awareness, Consciousness

I am an atheist. I do not believe in gods. It's OK to be an atheist. It's not illegal, doesn't hurt anyone and there's nothing to be ashamed of. Nor is it weird.

As a child I was made to say my prayers each night. I sang hymns at school and had R.E. lessons. But then, in my teenage years, I achieved 'critical thinking' status. I questioned the sheer impossibilities involved in religious narratives, the power of the church in the state and the influence the clergy had over the unquestioning masses.

I read about the Reformation and the corruption of the Catholic church. I believed in the power of science to explain the world, not of stories and myths passed down among the illiterate and uneducated.

But above all, I realised that the church isn't about spiritual wellbeing, it's about power. Power over people, states and vested interests. That explains why there are so many gods to choose from. And of course, god is always on my side in a battle.

10 April 2026: The Guardian has published a really alarming piece about militant Christianity and Pete Hesketh, the US Defense (or war) secretary (i). This complete lunatic is using religion to justify his murderous and illegal campaigns against Iran. He and the radical far-right Christian groups that attach themselves to idiots are dangerous to society. I, as an atheist, call them out for the threats they are. Hesketh is not an example of intellectual rigour or thought, he is only interested in power and ego. He doesn't care about you or the people, only the likes of Douglas Wilson, a Christian nationalist dangerous lunatic with the most repulsive and extreme views (ii). Religion can turn people into trash. There's plenty of it to see in the American government at the moment.

Here's an example of how religion is not just corrupt, it's cruel. I was a resus baby, born in 1957. I needed a whole blood transfusion to survive, which I got in hours after birth. If I was the child of a Jehovah's Witness parent, that parent would have watched me die (iii). In practice, the courts would have intervened and allowed the transfusion over the heads of the parents, but that's not the point. My parents were 43 and 39 years old when I was born. They weren't going to have another child. I wouldn't have become a teacher, lecturer, performer, father, husband, friend. I wouldn't have been given that chance, by my own parents, to become those things if they had been Jehovah's Witnesses. It's pathetic and morally indefensible.

Religion does that to people. It corrupts them. It makes them lose sense. It is an excuse for appalling behaviour. To some, it is an essential piece of kit to justify extreme violence. If you think that's wrong, look at the world around you right now.

It's time that we grew up. I'm proud to be an atheist, to have the power of critical thought and speak truth to religion and it's interests.

Please visit Humanists UK (iv) if you agree with me that the understanding of our world and our place in it does not need religion to help, instruct or guide us in any way, shape or form.

My blog post 'Why Atheists Must Be More Political' covers more ground on this subject.

(i) The Guardian 10 April 2026: Pete Hegseth’s holy war: the militant Christian theology animating the US attack on Iran

(ii) Wikipedia: Douglas Wilson

(iii) Wikipedia: Jehovah's Witnesses and blood transfusions

(iv) Humanists UK