Proselytizing

I am not a religious person. I don't believe in any god(s), or in fact in anything other than chaos. Both man-made and natural.
I like synchronicity. Things that appear to be coincidental, but you like to think they're not, can't be. Like two Hamas leaders dying from an overdose of Hellfire missiles within 3 weeks of one another... Anyway.

Religion requires you to "believe" when there really is no reason to. It requires you to "have faith" in something that you will never see, or observe in any other way. It requires you to submit, to surrender to something/someone, whereas submitting and surrendering is the last thing a human being wants to do.

Religion is something only practiced by people who have been for all intents and purposes indoctrinated to accept the existence of a being larger then they. You have to have been born into a religious family, basically. If that happens, you can never truly escape it, no matter how hard you try.
But if you grow up without such brainwashing, you will never be able to accept the belief that there is a conscious, omnipotent, guiding, even directing force that causes everything to happen. Humans may not control life in general or their own in particular nearly as much as they'd like or think, but no one else does either.

Only a non-religious person can come out with a cliche like this: "If god exists, it is a monster for causing or even allowing suffering on this scale".
I am aware of all the arguments. "We have choice" (and clearly we do). "This life is hell, but the afterlife..." (of course you better behave if you want to get there).
"God works in mysterious ways,we cannot know the reason". That is circular reasoning. We cannot even know he exists, let alone his reasons for putting us through this shit.
Oriental reasoning: "Through suffering we achieve a higher plane, until we become truly enlightened". If god exists (and is omnipotent, but then, what kind of god is not?) he can enlighten me.

So I have no liking for religion. Any religion. But I like some even less than others...

I feel sorry for people who need a virtual cane like religion to get them through life. I am happier knowing that the little control I do have, I use to improve my life (or fuck it up, as the case may be). I will take credit for that.
But when people feel the need to persuade, convince or even force me to accept their beliefs, their religion stops being a benign mistake and becomes a nuisance, or a threat. And then their god better be real, cause its believers will need it for protection.

The mere concept of "mission" proves the shakiness of peoples beliefs. If you are so secure in your faith, and trust in your god to do right by you, why are you so offended when I reject it? A Jehovahs witness will leave when I kindly (yes really) tell him "no". If he persists, I'll tell him he is the one in for a big surprise when he dies. He'll shake his head and he'll decide to pray for my soul anyway. But if you trust your god, you will not feel the need to "stand up for him". If I offend him, he'll strike me down (or cast me into a sulphur lake, or something equally creative). No need for you to defend the all-powerful, all-knowing capo di tutti capi.

Face it. You're scared. You know what I know. But you can't face oblivion. Can't handle death. So against all better judgment, you're betting against all ods. Nothing wrong with that, either. As long as it's only your own life you fuck up trying to create hell in this life, just so you'll be in heaven in the next.