What would Jesus do? Be an atheist.

I was having a chat recently about religion, and it occurred to me how much I love Jesus. Bold words coming from a dedicated atheist since the age of 11. Don't get me wrong, I'm still an atheist, but have an understanding of what people were like prior to Jesus and you can see how special he was. Ancient Romans didn't have a word akin to 'happy'. Literally, the emotion didn't exist. The closest they came to happy was a word that meant something along the lines of safe and undisturbed. And people were mean. Husbands had the right to kill their wives, and no one would even ask why. The wealthy had slaves that they treated inhumanely, and the poor were subject to this slavery. Things were dangerous... I suppose in those times, happy was moot - safety was what was important.

But think about Jesus's message: God is love. Quoi? Sounds like atheism to me. In an era and locale where it would have been suicidal to admit you don't believe in god, how do you preach atheism? Redefine god as something else other than god. I believe in love, and the power of love, what I don't believe in is a supernatural being who decides our fate, and I don't believe this life is a prequel to eternal happiness. I don't believe that morals are absolute, but rather arbitrary rules that generally help us all survive and thrive in the world and in society.

But I like the rules that Jesus laid out. Let's be nice to each other, even if there is no obvious benefit. Let's help each other out. Let's be loving to one another. There is no reason to live in fear of a mythical monster in the sky, because he doesn't exist. All that exists is love. Right on, Jesus. I'm totally an atheist for Jesus.