To believe in nothing is to already believe in something.
This delusional paradox of being in the middle is never achieved.
There is a middle ground but that doesn't mean that we as humans will ever find it much less stay in it once we do. Time and time again my experience has been that we as people are biased to our own beliefs. We also tend to think we're right, that we're of higher standing and much more intelligent than the next and more often than not, it isn't true.
And that's the thing. Once we're proven right on one of our ideas then we immediately begin to rationalize that all our notions are correct, whether that's true or not. We even begin seeking out confirmation that what we hold to be true is in fact accurate and once we do well it's a lot harder to go back and truly examine ourselves and respond to criticism without feeling defensive and hurt.
This is why non-believing people view religion as dogmatic and those that do have faith in a super-omnipotent god view it as the all revealing all-seeing truth and will immediately become protective when questioned and asked to explain why they believe in said worship. One can say that not everything can be explained. Not everything can be recreated in a lab and that doesn't make it false. But the same things can be said about such concepts like astrology, palm reading, eastern healing, shamanism, mediums, psychics, hauntings, exorcisms etc. and yet they've all been debunked. Regardless of what you believe, you can't ignore fact. You can deny it but that doesn't lessen it's certainty. All of these, according to science have no credibility and are usually attributed to people's own fears and superstitions.
This is why it was so easy to claim that there was a witch among the puritans in 1692 without anyone stopping to think and question. Perhaps just a little skepticism would have stopped the paranoia that would ensue. Although this happened quite some time ago, it's occurred not that long ago as well with McCarthyism bringing the Red Scare and turning everyone one was suspicious of into a communist. Everytime we say we would never make the same mistakes again, that however backwards history could be, we've somehow evolved from these errors and would never do it again.
But it's not that easy. We can try to eradicate the mentalities that stop us from evolving but for every progressive modern mentality there's someone out there that stubbornly won't let go of old tradition for the sake of being afraid of change, of wanting that constant to stay constant in their lives because it's better to stick to something you know than something you don't.
What I've encountered is that most seem to think they're reasonable people, that they try and keep an open mind to things they may not be too okay with. In theory, yes, everyone can be this person. But in reality, once we are presented with ideas that are not like our own we immediately rush to claim our stance and become more emotional than we'd like to. For every skeptic that tries to remain stoic and ridicules whoever shows even the slightest of sentiments forget that they too are human and are not exempt from showing emotion as well and that's where their personal insight fails them. To not be aware of seeing the things you're criticizing in you is self-suicide.
But I digress.
Religion has played an enormous roles in people's lives for centuries now. We've had temples erected with the sweat and labor of the poor in order to satisfy those gods, wars that have ended in mass bloodshed with no resolve but the killings of those we don't agree with and yet it's still very prominent in our society today. However many times it's been shown to cause more damage than good throughout history people will still continue to believe. Growing up in an evangelical christian household I can see why it has such a charm to those those that hold it up so highly. Why in the face of all the data, the science, the inability to prove it's credibility one continues to go every day to church on Sunday.
A simple answer is because it's easy. You don't have to think about the things you're afraid of because everything turns out okay in the end as long as you do as you're told. As long as you read a scripture that tells you how to live your life, then you're guaranteed a beautiful afterlife; something that many are left in the dark about. It's a glittering advertisement that answers all of life's complex questions and it's extremely inviting. It's a warm house in a world where you're constantly cold and uncertain.
I can understand that. Even sympathize with that. It's more soothing to be comforted than being constantly wary of the unknown and ultimately live with anxiety than to just take something that will make that all go away. It's almost marketable.
I'm someone that has a lot of feminist beliefs and although a lot of pop feminism is troublesome I can see why people use it so much. Why "female empowerment" is on every magazine now or every tampon commercial. It's simple to make money off of people's strong values and use it for one's own profit.
It's easy to ignore the negatives when you receive so many positive from it but it doesn't stop it from the fact that it's more often than not: detrimental.
This is why so many people don't see the bad aspects of their convictions. Why so many people are quickly to forgive and forget when priests are accused of pedophilia and abuse. Why people pretend it's no big deal when the pastor asks every service for donations and the church is still a dilapidated warehouse building but he lives in a million dollar home and owns three expensive cars and no one wonders where the money is going to as long as they feel they're contributing to a greater good.
Why so many women in Muslim practices don't see the practices of their ideas as oppressive.
    Some argue that it makes them better people or that it has led them into a better path than they were on the one before. That without religion they would still be committing crimes and/or probably be dead already. And I think that if religion works to make you a better individual then by all means go for it. But keep in mind that you don't need a religion to make you a good citizen. If the only thing stopping you from committing vile acts against humanity is the idea of eternal punishment by an all rage consuming god then you're not really that good of a person to begin with.

With all this being said, the same can be attributed to those that don't believe in anything. i.e atheist, satanists, skeptics, scientists etc.
Sometimes one is guilty of falling into the trap of having the moral high-ground and being more clever than those that choose to believe in a deity that we forget that not everything is solid. Theories that are being thought of today will eventually be replaced by more accurate theories. This change is vital to always going for objective truth. Unfortunately, a lot fall into the conclusion that what they know now cannot possibly be changed. They stop researching or reading into new material that is showing new information because it's hard to constantly be changing ideas when some are much more attractive than others.
I remember the craze of nihilism that started spreading among the kids in my community college that started hearing about Nietzsche and his philosophy for the first time. The way they would take bits and pieces of his thoughts and turn them into whatever they deemed it to be. Which was more often than not, just a hostile outlook on life and a defiant personality believing that if one believed in nothing then no one could possibly poke fun at them or even question them on anything. In short, they were free of ever defending their stance because how do you defend nothing?
Except that they weren't really reading what Nietzsche was trying to say all those years ago because if they had they would have known what they were portraying was muddy and obtuse at best.
This is also reminiscent of those that self-identify as Buddhist but don't have any real grasp on the teachings or philosophy except for what they think is Buddhism and no it's not only meditation and having a bunch of Buddha heads scattered around your apartment.
At times, I do believe there is a higher divinity out there and on many occasions I've prayed to it but also I've come to terms that it's not something that I can intellectually describe or prove and I don't intent to because I know that this is for my own comfort not anyone else's, it's not subscribed to any particular religion because I feel that something as powerful as an idol is smart enough not to need a cult of followers to know it's existence is real.

This think piece is not middle ground.

As always, thank you for reading
sincerely, your
rewind VCR.