Believing in a religion is no different than still believing in Santa Klaus.
Those who preach where they have not been invited to do so, are doing two insulting things, in my view.
They are saying anyone that doesn’t agree with them is a bad person. And they are placing themselves as superior to anyone that does not believe what they do. The inherent arrogance of religion, to say we’re right, and everyone else is wrong has always offended me.
No I am not offended by intelligently written atheist text. Although as a Neo-Pagan I find myself in conflict with their complete lack of beliefs.
And to answer your next question.
The word reality derives from an ancient word for king, because in the olden days what the king said was the reality. If He/or she said the grass was purple, you had better agree.
To me we are all the king, or god, of our own universe. Because what we perceive as reality, lives and dies with us.
I see the universe as nothing more or less, than energy. All matter is condensed energy, and as a practitioner of High Magick I use rituals to help me become more in tune with that energy.
You would no doubt say that’s not much different than a religion. It is. I don’t worship anything, nor do I expect anything in return with no effort.
I don’t see the universe for anything more than the Infinite chaos it is. There is no random in the universe, because the universe is endless. Since everything is possible in the universe, there is no reason to see anything within it, including ourselves, as being anything more than one of the limitless possibilities of creation.
Simply by accepting that the universe is limitless means there are lots of other worlds out there, just like this one. Some will be populated by beings just like us, some will have evolved along very different paths.
I dislike religions for a number of reasons, the main one is that they are dangerous. 9/11 2001 was based on religious beliefs.
They are also counter productive to the advancement of humanity as a collective force into greater vistas of accomplishment. In other words, it’s just one more thing people use to seperate themselves from their fellow humans.