I remember when I first learned there was no Santa Claus. My mom was driving me somewhere and I was telling her how some kids in school, that day (I was in the fourth grade), were making fun of me for believing in Santa Claus. They insisted that there was no Santa. I asked my mom point blank: “Is there a Santa Claus?”

She looked over at me for a moment and seemed to see me as an adult for the first time.

“No,” she told me.

My mind raced.

“Well, then there’s no Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy, either, is there?”

“No.”

She looked like she felt guilty, but my mind was still racing. In the days and weeks that followed, I quietly pondered this discovery–if there was no Santa, or Tooth Fairy, then who else wasn’t real? Then it hit me.

Santa, we were told, would reward us (with presents) if we were good and punish us (with coal) if we were bad.

Now, why does that sound familiar?

God, we are told will reward us (with heaven) if we lead a good life and punish us (with hell) if we lead a bad life.

So, Santa doesn’t exist, but God does, yet both are used to make us behave?

Once you see that dynamic, I don’t know how anyone can still believe in Santa or God. Both are such obvious scams. I’m not saying you’re stupid for believing in God, I just don’t understand how you can’t feel like you’re being lied to in order to keep you in line with society.

And don’t go saying that God is a lie required by society to keep people civil. I’m so tired of the black and white argument. There’s more to life than “on” or “off,” “belief” or “disbelief.”

I consider myself a very moral person, despite the fact that I’m pretty sure there is no God (or god). I don’t need Christian rules to tell me what to do or the threat of Hell or the lack of Heaven to keep me in line.

I’m not a child.

I don’t rape, steal and murder because I don’t think those are nice things to do and I don’t want to be remembered as a bad person when I’m no longer here. My legacy is what makes me behave in a moral fashion. I want people to think I was a good guy when I was alive. We don’t really have immortal souls–not literally. The closest thing we do have is our memory. Sometimes it’s a very tangible, obvious thing, like remembering Bob Hope or George Washington. While other times it’s more abstract–something you learned from your father and have passed on to your son without realizing it. Still, even though your (hypothetical) father is dead, your son remembers him in a way.

You, quite literally, live on through the lives you touch.

Heaven lies in being remembered in a pantheon of great dead people–not in a realm of white clouds, harps, angels, and so on.

Now, I would say “this is just my belief” but it’s not really a “belief” since I’m not referring to anything that doesn’t have proof of existence. My concept of heaven is completely, 100% real and provable.

Is yours?