Excerpt #3 from my book, Religion, An Obstacle to Human Progress
Infancy of Our Intelligence
Oftentimes we are confronted by yet another evangelizer or proselytizer who attempts to recruit us into one religion or another.
They read, quote from, and thump their “holy books.”
They are everywhere: on television, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, and internet.
It never ends.
They even knock on our doors to try to get us to join their tribe.
In response to this book, I’m certain that many writers and commentators (none of whom will read this book) will rush to the defense of these old religions.
For centuries, we’ve heard arguments (often called apologetics) for religion.
We’re not only aware of these arguments (some we can repeat from memory), but we’ve also been victimized by them.
Many people, world-wide, are weary of religion and the problems it causes.
This book presents a cross section, flavor, critique, and analysis of the flawed phenomenon of religion and the great harm it inflicts upon humanity.
It is a phenomenon and institution that has gotten away with murder. Literally.
“The most heinous and the most cruel crimes of which history has record have been
committed under the cover of religion or equally noble motives.” – Mohandas Gandhi, Young India, 1927
The great majority of antiquated and damaging religious thought originated thousands of years ago in the infancy of our intelligence.
It’s time to come to our senses and understand this phenomenon as the opportunistic charade that it is.
The religious exploitation and oppression of the weak, poor, and ignorant must end.
What is religion?
Religion may be defined as a belief in, or worship of, a god.
Immediately, questions and issues arise.
What and whose god… or goddess?
Conflicts rise over definitions of gods and goddesses.
The diversion and distraction of our attention to these gods and goddesses.
Seldom is there agreement about these esoteric subjects and understandably so.
After all, these are primitive concepts created by us in our infancy.
Religion may also be defined as a belief system that has to do with the cause, purpose, and nature of the universe.
In fact, this is what we have done since the beginning of conscious thought, and with very little knowledge.
Early humans, before the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, profoundly ignorant of life as we know it today, created gods, creation stories, and fiercely tribal religions with rules, and theatrical rituals, costumes, and music to explain the cause, purpose, and nature of life and the universe.
Today, we do not need supernatural gods to explain what science can prove.
“The time appears to me to have come when it is the duty of all to make their dissent from religion known.” – John Stuart Mill
Reality Is Based Dangerously on Dogma
Political, economic, and environmental issues are woven into the fabric of this book as they are equally influenced by religious beliefs.
Many of our ‘leaders’ view the world through distorted lenses.
Narrow corporate and political worldviews in association with fundamentalist faiths result in an interpretation of reality based dangerously on dogma, not on scientific fact.
Consider this book a collage — layers upon layers of thought.
Some my own.
Other thoughts from some of our world’s best thinkers, to whom I am very grateful.
In a sense, this work is more like a painting than a book.
You can focus on parts, each of which are complete in and of themselves.
As in a painting, the parts come together to form a larger picture, which is greater than the sum of the parts.
I think of this work also as a pastiche, a literary piece consisting of motifs borrowed from numerous sources.
It is broken into small, easily consumable segments, like healthy snack-food for the mind.
My hope is that all of it taken together will contribute in some small way to a fundamental evolutionary shift in the way we think about the reality in which we live.
Such a shift is necessary if we are to sustain humanity, advance our civilization, and succeed as a species.
Our basic belief systems, our understanding of reality and its behavioral demands, must change.
Otherwise, our inability to get along with each other coupled with our severely compromised environment (a natural environment which couldn’t care less about us) will eliminate us.
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” – Philip K. Dick, author