Need a god to have good relationships?

I just came across the following picture and caption on facebook:

A personal relationship with god is the most important relationship you will ever have and it is what will make all other relationships work.

It made me think. Well, moreso it seemed so bizarre and condescending. So I started to think of, and decided to craft, the following essay to catalog my thoughts on the topic.

I can't speak for tomorrow but so far I've been in a relationship with the same woman for 10 years, 4 months, and a handful of days. I have a strained relationship with my mom because she was mentally unstable and abusive to me my entire life, however, I have nonetheless provided care and succor for her for the past 15+ years, for which she's grateful, in her more lucid less unstable moments. My 3 oldest (and possibly closest) friends are friends whom I met in 6th grade, 12th grade, and when I was 21 (so about 20 years ago) respectively.

I have been at the same job for 15+years and have worked with many of my current co-workers for 6 years or more.

I am itemizing this because I am as hard core a flaming atheist as they come, I have no relationship with any of the several thousand different gods humans have chosen to worship.

I know a lot of atheists, both in real life and via social networking, plus the people I have met at rallies, conventions, and events. Many of them are in long term relationships - in fact, we just moved to a suburb and have made friends with a couple who've been married for a while (who not only are married, they also work together), who are atheists, and rekindled a friendship with a friend from 10 years ago who happens to live near by and her, her hubby and her kid are atheists.

There's a lot of atheists who make a lot of relationships work.

Even if I lost my girl, my job and all my friends tomorrow.. (which I can't speak for tomorrow for who can say with certainty, what tomorrow may bring?) I can say that I have had long duration, mutually reciprocal, healthy, supportive, and warm relationships - romantic, platonic, and professional All without any supernatural support and far from being alone, I am part of a huge, happy, well adjusted, optimistic, hopeful, politically, socially, and community-ly(?) active fellow atheists who also have long term, warm, supportive, reciprocal, healthy relationships.

Me, them, none of us worship, or have a relationship with, any of the several thousand different gods that humans have worshiped thru history... not even the 3 or 4 that are the most popular fads of the past few centuries.

I'm just Not Sure if you need a relationship with the idea of a god to have healthy relationships with real people who actually exist in the real world.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad