Away With The Manger

I learned a long time ago that the surest way to upset others is to make negative comments about religion.  Any religion.  OK – be prepared to be upset.  And, what better time to do the foul deed than at the very time that a large percentage of the world celebrates their god by pretending that a virgin girl gave birth to a human form of god.  One that spent several years raising the dead, feeding thousands with almost nothing and other assorted miracles.  A human form that was later murdered, although it could not be killed.

Really, friends – even the US Government does not make such claims!

Then I am told that I should not say bad things about religion because so many people take such comfort from their beliefs.  Personally, the fairy tale I take the most comfort from is the tale of Pinocchio.  The very thought of a person’s nose growing when they lie is fascinating to me.  I sometimes daydream for hours about our Congress suffering such an affliction.  I picture them having to walk backwards, dragging their enormous noses along the floor.  But, I digress.  And, I know that Pinocchio was just a fable.

Why then do people like me object to others taking some comfort from an innocent fairy tale?  Simple. Because the results are anything but innocent.  I will spare you all the repetitous tales of bloody wars, mayhem and downright nasty behavior caused by conflicting religious beliefs.  No, my friends, my objection comes from the fact that, once a person lets unreality into their thinking process, they damage their capacity for rational, critical thought.

Why is that so important to me?  Simple again.  Because I am convinced that the only way people will ever live together in some manner of harmony will be through rationality.  Dealing with things as they really are, not as we wish they somehow could be.

As suggested in another post, I think freedom requires voluntary, universal adoption and adherence to a code of ethics and morals.  It requires that each of us realize that, to be fully and effectively free, we must allow our fellow humans to be just as fully, just as effectively free as ourselves.  It simply cannot work any other way.  If you think you can be free while others must do your bidding, you have accepted a form of despotism.  One that, inevitably will include yourself in the damage it does.

Well say you, the writer has just trashed religion then demanded a code of morals in the same few paragraphs.  Is this not a contradiction?  Not in the least.  For sure, most religions espouse some manner of moral code.  Usually these are a combination of rules for the good of mankind (respect the right of others to their lives, their property and their attempts at happiness), along with rules for preserving and protecting that particular religion (worship our god, not the other fellow’s god).

I submit that the important part of all these moral codes are:

1. So similar as to be essentially the same, and,
2. The products of rational thought, not divine commandment.

Which brings me to the root of this rant.  True ethics and morals are always the result of rational considerations.  Clearly (to me), if we discarded all our superstitions and relied solely on the products of rational thought, we would come as close as humans ever will to universal freedom.

My main objection to religious belief systems is that they, one and all, promote “magical thinking”.  That is, they require belief in / acceptance of things our rational minds would never accept as true.  For the simple reason that there is never any basis for them in reality.  No tangible evidence of any kind.  Just the repeated, embellished superstitions of those who went before.

One can almost forgive the ancients.  For instance, by all appearances, the sun seemed to retreat day by day until the earth grew cold and the food crops withered and died.  Then, the priests sacrifice a few virgins and voila, the sun starts coming back to warm and feed them again.  The gods must be pleased!  QED.

Today, we know better (or at least we should).  Yet the superstitions continue.  We may have stopped the bloodier parts of the rituals, but the underlying beliefs persist.

This all makes me very sad because it slows what a sorry job we have done of teaching our young the value and power of rational, critical thought processes.  Those thought processes that are, IMHO, the only true path to universal freedom and happiness.  Indeed, we have gone quite the other way, attempting at every turn to shield people from the natural, predictable results of ignorance and poor decision making.  Some may think they are doing their fellows a favor.  I say they are conditioning them for ultimate slavery.

It does not have to be this way.  Learn to think.  Learn and think.  Think your way to real freedom and happiness.  And enjoy this holiday season – but for all the right reasons.

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