To his anonymous friend

The Complete and Total Loser got something his uninteresting and poorly written blog seldom gets: A comment. 
Here it is:

Dear B.,
I am young but like you. How are you certain that god does not exist?

The Loser answers with this:
Dear Young Anonymous person,
Thank you very much for your kind words. The Loser rarely hears others say they like him. Usually, people tolerate him but of course no one says that. (Have you ever put a recording device in a room with people you know in it, left the room, come back later and listened to it? The Loser has and he found it quite the learning experience. He ended up sorry that he did it. There are some things you're better off not knowing.)
The Loser is hesitant to discuss religious matters with you. We all reach our own conclusions in our own way, and the way the Loser decided there was no deity involved in the affairs of humans, animals, snowflake design or anything else are likely different in many ways from the way an estimated one billion other atheists drew their own conclusions. 

A saying you'll hear when methods of investigation are discussed is "Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence." That's a wise rule, but in some cases it doesn't pass muster. If, for example, you spend a lot of time trying to determine whether or not the Loser has ever been in Moscow and find sound explanations for every instance of his whereabouts and not one of them indicates a trip to Moscow, you can be ninety-nine percent sure that the Loser has never been to Moscow. (You can never be one hundred percent sure of anything, including that you and everyone you know are not merely figments of a remarkable being's dream, but the sane among us behave as though we are.)
The Loser is old and he envies you. You have access to a wealth of information at your fingertips to gather information on this topic with. Take advantage of that. But be sure to talk to real people, both believers and nonbelievers. A member of the clergy, teachers, your parents and relatives, friends. Listen to both sides. Do your own thinking, make up your own mind. One argument in favor you may hear is that without belief in a higher power that has a grand design and we participate in it, life is purposeless and subsequently meaningless. Don't fall for that one! The one doesn't follow the other.
A young person who hears the Loser's opinions on this may think his mind is closed on this matter. It's not. However, as the Loser is now in the end of his sixth decade on Earth and nothing has convinced him to date, it would take a good argument to convince him. 
The Loser wishes you well in your search.

How religion works

Overstuffed trashcans like these will be emptied before Pope Francis visits Philadelphia.

Pope Francis is coming to the Complete and Total Loser's home city of Philadelphia this weekend and he'll hold a mass outdoors on Sunday. Rain is expected, but the local forecasters are saying it "may be drizzling." 
Here's how this works:

• If it doesn't rain at all, believers will say it was an act of their god, who surely favors this city and must dislike farmers and forests in California and the Pacific Northwest
• It it rains off and on, believers will see greater significance in what the pope says during the times he speaks when it isn't raining
• If it does nothing but pour all day, believers won't make any connection to the weather and the pope's presence or, if they do, they'll say the reasoning behind the rain is not one mere humans are capable of discerning 

Children's Letters to the Loser #18

Dear Complete and Total Loser,

My mother says my two sisters and I have to go to church until we're confirmed. After that, we won't have to go anymore. I don't believe in God and I don't think I should have to go at all and that it should be up to me. What can I say to her?

Peter

Dear Peter,

The Loser agrees with you. No one should be taught any faith at all until they've attained the ability to question what they're being taught. This age will vary with the complexity of the topic. Children shouldn't be taught religious doctrine any more than they should quantum mechanics or string theory. Sadly, what your mother is doing is legal and even advocated by many. I suggest you bear it as well as you can. Try to see it as lessons in Western thought. Meanwhile, spend time reading scientific explanations of how the earth, the universe, and humans came into existence and what the future holds. It is fascinating reading and unlike religious thought, new material gets added every year as our knowledge and horizons expand. It's impossible to guess how far ahead humans would be now from where we are if not for the brakes religious dogma put on reason.

Your friend,

The Complete and Total Loser

An image from the Hubble.