Do you believe in God?

If you do, can I ask you a question, a plain, simple question?

Why, what reason do you have to believe in what the church (of whatever type) either sells you or tells you?

 Perhaps you believe in what your parents told you, but did they give any reason or did they just tell you that there was a God and that was why you had to say your prayers every night and have faith and go to church on a Sunday?

 I always preferred to use my own mind, to question what I was told and to ask for proof. And the result? From a very young age I have known, in my heart, that there is no God because there is no proof, there is no showing, no indication. Nothing more than a row of different churches, praying loudly.

 What about you, what do you think?

Am I missing something?

Lying in bed last night, thinking as I drifted off. Do I get it wrong - are there people, here in Shetland that have left wing - or, God forbid, right wing - views. If so, do they stay silent in fear of being mocked or castigated. Am I the only one around here that votes for the Scottish Socialist Party, or for that matter, any other party that does not "fit".

If I am right in the way that I have been thinking then I have to ask myself "Why". Is it because it is the way that everyone believes to be right or is it because everyone wants to fit in, does not want to be "different" from the rest, be it their family, friends, neighbours or employers, whatever.

There must be the odd person with views akin to myself. Why do they stay silent? Please, someone, let on. Is it socially unacceptable around these parts to think differently. Pretty awful if it is.