There are many poisons in the world.A fiddleback spider’s bite can cause delirium. Heroin can impair vision. Snake venom can lead to organ failure.

Delirium, impaired vision and organ failure.

Religion had these effects on me for years.

Some have a greater tolerance, but my immune system was ravaged until the day I prescribed myself a healthy dose of atheism.

Above all, this article is meant to address the debate on whether religion or people are at fault for my experiences. It depends on the individual.

Delirium is defined as a state of violent mental confusion.

I was in the ninth grade when I sensed a heightened interest in a classmate whose laugh I found endearing and whose eyes I considered unmatched in their charm.

I noticed there was a lack of boys holding hands with boys and girls kissing girls goodbye.

My ephemeral crush on my classmate felt natural. It was natural just as your first crush was natural.

I felt cut down, however, by Bible verses asserting I was a monster. “If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”

I was apparently a 14-year-old abomination.

I juggled my fear of hell with my developing interest in men, and the weight of both opposing forces led to an implosion of character that dissolved my self-esteem.

I was a senior in high school before I was asking the right questions. “How can I hide the fact I’m gay?” became “How can anyone set aside human nature to satisfy someone else’s superstition?”

If people who are gay must go to hell, then hell by definition is a place for those who are themselves. To hell with that.

Upon my death and in the event there is an afterlife, I will suggest – to the Christian deity, for a popular example – that I would have spent the seventh day making sure people weren’t wired to torture each other in my omnipotent honor.

He must have been sleep-deprived to be content with having misery and suffering attributed to free will and casualties of holy war.

Impaired vision is another dangerous symptom, incited by the belief that life on Earth is not all we have.

Animals are here for us to eat. The planet is our trash can. Life is an audition. Death is the ticket to see who is on the “Naughty or Nice” list.

Love is something between a man and a woman, and sex makes God uneasy unless marriage and the missionary position are involved.

One would say people are not at risk of impaired vision, but of na’ve blindness.

My decision to stop believing in a deity has resulted in so much clarity.

I’ve become more aware of the world in all its flaws and practicalities, and I no longer tell myself someone will make things right instead of someone like me or you.

My definition of beauty is challenged by the concept of an afterlife.

I cannot fathom that those of us who do “good” are in line for a reward and those who do “evil” will get their due punishment.

It’s lazy to categorize our actions as if we are Barbies and Kens with accessories and rechargeable batteries, under the watch of a stubborn child who has left us on a giant playground to see who is most worthy of being thrown away or taken home.

Look around. We are home. We are not guests or pawns. Every day, we live and breathe until we no longer can.

Our relatives will die. Our friends, lovers and fellow animals will die.

To believe we go somewhere after death lessens the uniqueness and irreplaceable bonds of our relationships.

Denying the fact that we have an expiration date is not healthy.

Memory and legacy, the written word, and our actions are the foundation upon which we already have a heaven, physical and vibrant with life.

We have a history of treating the world and each other like hell because we underestimate our hearts and brains in an exercise of organ failure that goes blissfully unnoticed or faithfully accepted.

Embrace the fact that religion is not for everyone, along with the fact it damages millions of people every second.

Are you feeling delirium, impaired vision, or organ failure? There’s a cure for all that.

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