A tribute to DarkMatter2525 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DarkMatter2525 He's an atheist who makes animations poking fun at religion. Many of his videos feature God, portrayed as an egotistical, maniacal idiot and his sidekick, a pot-leaf-wearing angel baby named Jeffery, who serves as a voice of reason. I really like those two, so I decided to draw them in my style. Not only are DarkMatter's videos funny and entertaining, they and other atheist videos have also helped me grow more comfortable with my recent conversion to agnosticism.

Growing up, my family was never that religious. We went through periods of going to church every Sunday and of going only on Christmas and Easter, and that was usually the extent of our religious practices. I did (actually still do; she still comes over to help with housework and organization and stuff like that), however, have a Christian babysitter who always told my siblings and me about her beliefs.

I really don't want to rag on her too much; she's a wonderful woman, and her heart's in the right place. She's also been through a lot in her life, what with growing up in an abusive household in El Salvador and her husband's passing in early 2012. I'm sure her beliefs have helped her through all that and more. She even respects people's beliefs, which is more than I can say for many super radical religious folk you hear about in the media. However, I'd be lying if I said her teachings haven't given me any trouble.

Her teachings really didn't bring me any comfort and joy. All they did was make me paranoid about going to hell. They're also the reason I don't swear much. She also made me feel guilty about my Greek mythology phase during my early teens. I had to remind her time and time again I treated the stuff like fiction and didn't actually believe in or worship those false gods. I'm just glad I'm not bi or lesbian. While she's not EXTREMELY homophobic, she says while being gay itself isn't wrong, acting on your urges IS.

In fact, now that I'm older and have more of a critical eye, I've realized her teachings only really weighed me down, probably for nothing too. We really can't prove whether or not there really is a God. I don't need religion to be a good person and advise a more worldly approach to life's problems. Of course, denouncing your religious beliefs is scary in the beginning; part of you still worries you made the wrong choice, and you're going to hell. My sister saying I just don't want to be good all the time certainly didn't help. Channels like DarkMatter's have shown me I'm not alone in seeing the flaws in religion.

Sorry. I know this is a heavy and controversial topic. I promise other posts will be more lighthearted. Let me just say if you're a religious person, that's perfectly okay, so long as you aren't obnoxious about it and don't try to force your beliefs on others. Take my drawing here with a grain of salt too; it's DarkMatter's God character, not my own portrayal of God.

Also, I just realized this image's dimensions are 855 x 666, which is pretty darn ironic if you ask me.

I wasn't struck by lightning once while drawing this!