Excerpt #2 from my book, Religion, An Obstacle to Human Progress
Obstacle to Human Progress
Traditional religions were built upon foundations of falsehood, fabrication, and superstition with the purpose of gaining power over the weak and to curry favor among the strong.
The mythical gods and fantasy worlds associated with these religions have countless people out of touch with the real world in which we exist.
As a consequence, complicated political, economic, and environmental problems gravitate toward horrific outcomes.
Humanity faces grave challenges.
These religions are a significant part of the problem.
On balance, despite whatever contributions religions may have made within the environments and time frames in which they were spawned, these old belief systems now are unequivocally an obstacle to human progress.
We cannot sustain humanity and build a civilization on a base of fictitious stories.
It is tantamount to attempting to construct a house on a disastrous foundation.
I came to this conclusion after a year of study at Yale Divinity School, two years at Harvard Divinity School (Master of Divinity), other academic endeavors, countless life experiences, and observations in a number of diverse fields.
Collectively, all of these experiences gave me broad exposure to life.
Into the free marketplace of ideas, I offer my fears and solutions in regard to our troubled world of religion.
It is nearly impossible not to offend someone when religion is the subject.
That is not my intent although it will be construed as such by many.
My desire is to present a picture of religion that will assist those who are ready to advance to an understanding of life that far transcends ancient thought.
“My only wish is. . . to transform friends of God into friends of man, believers into thinkers, devotees of prayer into devotees of work, candidates for the hereafter into students of the world, Christians who, by their own procession and admission, are “half animal, half angel” into persons, into whole persons.” – Ludwig Feuerbach, Lectures on the Essence of Religion