Excerpt #81 from my book, Religion, An Obstacle to Human Progress
Many who are so eager to invest themselves in the “hereafter” don’t have a clue about what we are doing to the “here.”
Far too 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.
Many of our seemingly intractable political, economic, and environmental problems can be traced to outdated religious belief systems that distance us from the real-life behavioral demands of the reality in which we exist.
Meanwhile, our planet is in dire straits.
When we examine almost every measurable criteria by which we evaluate the health of the planet and our communities, things have gotten worse.
Our world, driven by the relentless needs of a global population growing out of control, is in ecological overshoot.
Humanity is now consuming more resources than the planet can regenerate, causing ecological destruction and social tension.
America’s corporate and political elites — often in concert with ancient religious thought — have privatized democracy.
Their only vision is to use elections as a path to more power for themselves and friends.
Most benefits and rewards flow upwards.
Their direction is toward a return to the three historic forms of tyranny: kings, theocrats, and noble feudal lords.