Thursday, April 28, 2005

A View of Religion

Everyone is entitled to his or her beliefs. Life is often a frightening prospect and the reality of death is never very far from human consciousness. I personally do not believe in a deity that is eternally concerned about our individual personal well being. We reside, after all, on a miniscule planet revolving about an ordinary star in a colossal universe and are members of an exceedingly flawed and not too spectacular species. Furthermore, I believe that biological death delivers us to the joy molecular and not to some pre-determined heaven or hell. But these are simply my beliefs: it is what I have concluded from my own personal experience.

Organized religion, in my judgment, is often an impediment to human progress. I believe this is so for the following reason. The problems that humanity collectively faces on this planet: poverty, hunger, disease, and war, for example, are directly a result of human behavior. They are essentially a consequence of human activity. Organized religion and the faith it invokes looks to the supernatural to solve these problems, yet they can best be addressed with human energy and resolve. The species, in my estimation, does not have the time to wait around for rescue or deliverance by heavenly benefactors. The time is now for the human community to join together to correct the inequities that it alone has created.

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