26. Works Alone.

Not as self-aggrandizing as prayer, but certainly more effective.

25. Mystery vs. Science... (En Theatre)

We as atheists are regularly accused of having no sense of wonder in our approach to the universe at large -- something I've always found puzzling. To me, the idea that the heavy elements in and around us (the uranium in our soil, the iron our blood) were likely concocted by the nucleosynthesis of an exploding star is beautiful to the point of unification. The awareness that we are (as Carl Sagan said) "star stuff", needs no expansion, no god element, to provoke a sense of awe, humility, or peace. Saying instead that the earth's resources exist because god put them there, or that our blood is red because god makes it so... That's hijacking our natural sense of wonder and reducing it to something gaudy and pointless. I found, and still find, no mystery or awe in the pages of religion; only the call for followers to feel "baffled and inferior."