Excerpt #42 from my book, Religion, An Obstacle to Human Progress
When I was a child, my family attended church regularly.
As an altar boy, I served countless masses.
It was my nature then — as it has been all of my life — to be observant and contemplative.
I observed the restrained and reverential behavior of people in church: the kneeling, genuflecting, crossing themselves with “holy water”, praying, bowing, and so forth.
Incidentally, you may wonder exactly what is “holy water.”
“Holy water” is just normal water but once “blessed” by a priest, it becomes “holy water.”
Curiously, outside the church, I observed the irreverent, insensitive, and sometimes brutal behavior of the same sanctimonious people.
I thought to myself, “There’s something wrong here.”
In fact, there is something — many things — very wrong.
Grievously wrong.