I don't care what you believe

I want to make one thing perfectly, crystalline clear: I don't care what you believe.

If you want to believe that the entire universe was created 500 years ago when a magical purple manatee shat it out while swimming through the Æther, fantastic. You go ahead. I hope it brings you much happiness.

Here's what I actually care about:

1. You accept that your individual successes and failures are strongly related to the communities in which you live, work, and play
2. You take tangible action to help those in need
3. You use whatever privilege you have (earned or unearned) to help those less fortunate than yourself
4. You make an effort to adopt and follow a rational code of ethics
5. You respect and value a diversity of being, ideas, backgrounds, and cultures

If your love for the magical purple manatee motivates you to do the above, yay for you. I'm glad you found a way of processing the world that helps make you a good person. But the moment your love for the magical purple manatee becomes more important than being a good person who does good things, you fail humanity.

So, again: I don't care what you believe, but dammit, I care what you do with it.