Mass Delusion or What??

I've been wondering lately why most people religious or not have to believe there is a higher power.  Whether it (the higher power) is controlling things or just started the ball rolling is irrelevant. Just because Mankind hasn't been able to create life in the lab without adding a few drops of swamp water doesn't mean there has to be a higher power. NO, it just means nobody has hit on the right combination of parts and the right trigger to set it off.

There are various estimates on the number of stars in the universe, anywhere from 9 to 300 sextillion (that's a 1 followed by a shitload of zeros, 21 or 36 take your pick). There are probably billions of planets with the right conditions for life and maybe millions with life, altho' it may not be life as we know it.  The thought that we are created special and the only planet with life strikes me as being very conceited.

I go by the theory that we are a fluke of the universe, in that SHIT HAPPENS, sometimes it's good shit, sometimes it's bad shit, but shit nevertheless. The fact that I believe we are a fluke doesn't mean there aren't a lot of other flukes out there.

Ever since I figured out that religion was a big lie, I've had no problem with not believing in a higher power.  Hey, shit happens, we're here, deal with it.  The older I get and the more I learn, the more I wonder about those that would believe in a deity that would through a matter of good timing allow psychopaths (serial killers, rapists, etc.) a free ride to heaven because just before they die they ask forgiveness and accept HeyZues as  their savior, but would send someone who lives a good clean life to Hell to suffer for eternity simply because they don't believe in the deity.  What a vindictive bastard!!

I have no problem with most of the Big-Bang theory, but something I read recently had me scratching my ass!!  Recently I read something that said the Big-Bang Theory supposedly started with a single atom and some kind of spark or lightning bolt and that atom expanded millions of times a second until in the space of a few minutes or hours all the material in the universe was created.  Now that seems as fantastic to me as the story of some old bearded dude sitting around in the dark bored and deciding to create heaven and earth and all the stars (let there be light), all the plants, fishes, and animals.  Then from mud creates the first man, first woman from mud is a failure, so makes one from the man's rib.  Both the starting from an atom and starting from Adam require taking things on faith of which I am lacking.  Both seem to me like flip sides of the same coin and have no currency with me.

I've also heard that there are some who think if they build a telescope powerful enough and point it in the right direction, they can see the actual beginning of time.  See the Big-Bang happen.  What if the light from that moment passed by us a couple of eons ago???

Anywho, thinking you are powerless and there has to be a higher power to explain how shit happens is to me the epitome of low-esteem.  Once when I said the Groucho Marx line, "Any group that would have me as a member, I don't want to join."  Someone said I must have a low opinion of myself.  I said, "No, I have a high opinon of myself, just a low opinion of others, especially groups."