I think we can agree that we all share one sphere of reality that we try to represent in our thoughts. That being said, I’m finding it difficult to reconcile intelligent people who continue to believe in superstitious and dogmatic bullshit. Thinking about religion and the absurd and fallacious reasons given in the name of it, I don’t understand how one can defend it anymore. We see people flying planes into buildings based on these same principles and yet nothing is learned. Religious moderates are to blame for much of the problems we continue to face. Unless we get to a point of realizing it’s merely a case of good ideas vs. bad ideas we will continue to pay the price. What I’m saying shouldn’t be considered provocative or divisive. What’s provocative is someone believing that the devil exists and if you don’t accept Jesus as you savior you’ll burn in hell for eternity. Divisive is sectarian disputes that go on everyday in the Middle East. If we continue to cling to dogmatism and fail to see humans for humans and not ideology, then we can throw any idea of a global civilization into the ditch. I believe transforming the way people think about this existence and changing the expectations have of our neighbors is important.
Many of my friends have been asking me to leave the issue alone and to stop being so confrontational lest I burn any bridges. I could worry about burning bridges if I call out Scientology for instance, but someone has to call it like it is. We need to be able to call a spade a spade and not handle religion with kid gloves anymore. I believe it’s intellectually dishonest to not acknowledge the causal reasons between what people believe and certain actions especially when those actions have become dangerous. If we were allowed to really look at religion critically we can continue to evolve our ideas and move forward more quickly. If we taught the bible the same way we teach the Iliad or the Odyssey and not as an inerrant prophecy then this would all break down within a generation. Because face facts, the bible cannot sustain a true critical look or read. There’s a place for the profound in our lives but we don’t need to lie to ourselves about it. At a certain age we stop believing there are monsters under our beds. The next logical thought would be that there is no supreme being in the sky either.
