I'm coming Out of the Closet

It's time for me to come out of the closet. After nearly 6 decades I need to admit something to all of my friends, co-workers and acquaintances. It's a difficult thing to say, a guilty pleasure I've enjoyed for many years. It started as a curiosity on my part. I first found it titillating and somehow rather exciting and then one day threw myself fully into it.
Let me explain. My parents were good Church of England folk and properly led me through the rituals. I was baptized in the Anglican church, eventually confirmed. I can recite the apostles creed and of course the Lords prayer by heart. I even know the catechism.
Sorry, you thought I was confessing some nonconformist sexual inclination. Oh no, sorry, that truly is none of anyone's business. No, I'm confessing to be a thinking intelligent human being.
I AM AN ATHEIST.
I can't tell you the exact date the conversion occurred. It's not that simple. Richard Dawkins who in my opinion is one of the greatest thinkers in such subjects describes atheism as a continuum. You can't be an atheist without admitting the "possibility" of the existence of a supreme being. It's a non-provable hypothesis. Is it possible there may be a creator of the universe? Of course that's possible. It's possible because it's impossible to prove a negative.
Biology and Darwin on the other hand elegantly "prove" that such an entity is not required to explain the diverse nature of the world as we know it.
Followers of fundamentalist religions however feel it necessary or convenient to solve all equations by substituting X the unknown with a mysterious God. Why?
That is the question that I've come to grips with. The answer is simple, there is no reason to accept X as unknown and arbitrarily solve the equation by stating therefore:X=GOD. No, unacceptable. By eliminating the work and substituting GOD we stop short scientific progress and all improvement in the human condition.
I truly believe if the human race survives and evolves far enough we may indeed solve for X and if not we will improve the human condition in the effort.
If we stop at the King James Version of the bible we must all still believe the world to be flat, the sun orbiting the earth. Scientific advances in medicine, energy creation, engineering science will have left us in that era. Instead, due to the obstinance of great minds like Galileo and Copernicus we know the planets orbit the Sun and from there all astronomy grew.
When Newton was asked "how did you ever come to the pure mathematical laws of gravity" his answer was " If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." and he was referring to Galileo, Copernicus et al.
Belief in a personal God inhibits science and progress. Today fundamentalist Christians in the United States are holding back scientific research in the areas of stem cell research, aids research and most importantly general genetic research in the name of an arbitrarily selected series of ancient scrolls, interpreted in dubious ways, attributed to be accurate by King James and stated to be "the word of God". Bear in mind the entire screed hinges on the stated fact the world was created in it's entirety 6,000 years ago.
My bottom line. This is an absolutely amazing universe. The earth is a spectacular place to be. I'm thrilled that I live. I care about my fellow creatures. I need no reward other than this life. I need no other love than the love of my fellow creatures.
With credit to "The Actors Studio" and in answer to the final question in the Proust Questionnaire: "If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?" my answer would have to be "you're from where? Oh sorry, forgot about that place. How's it doin'?"
My Name is Brian and I AM AN ATHEIST.