The Problem With god

There are many issues at hand in terms of religion and knowledge, seemilgly the antitheses of each other, and none more pervasive than the ideology (by those accepting creation and a creator) that humans are natualy superior to all other life on Earth (and any other life that hard working astronomers are investigating). I wont turn this into a large one sided discussion about science, knowledge and the history of religion - it would be fun to - but I fear that I must get to the point.
Individual religions feel, and always have felt, that they are with divine decree more powerful and more important that any others who do not share their view. They have persecuted many for inaccurately described "crimes" (early scientists, witches, etc) and have maintained that their view on life is the one and only view historically and contemporarily. Most contemporarily, religious views fuel the most stunning and horrific battles and atrocious actions globally. Religions, in their highest proclamation, define the way to live and if you do not live that way then...well... . They use anger and fear rather than illumination and investigation. This is where science, as a method, steps in. Science means knowledge - thats why we use the word today - it brings with it knowledge from experiment and repetition.It does not harbour any ill will to ideas . Ignorance has confounded and ideologies and made pious people regard cience as the contemporary religion. However, there is a huge gap in this commentary; Religions are based on faith and blind belief whereas science is based on experiment and repetative attempts to find things out.

There are more important views than the ones pescribed to religions, lets speak specifically about christianity as this post pertains to it, and any specific religion is but one view of the world - a world that has throughtout its recorded history had myriad views. People used to think that volcanoes were exhaustive localities for the 'gods' to vent their anger. Science showed that this was not true, but they believed and there was no way to sway their belief. Belief has always been blind, and nothing adherdes more to that blindness than religion. Any religion. All religions. Religion thrives on weakened people unwilling or unaware of the possibility of, asking questions. Being blindly faithfull is actually been converted into an admirable quality of pious people. If you question god, they say, then you are accepting the fact that he is wrong and he will not look kindly upon you. Being blind, cognitively blind, is responsible for so many preaching about the value of religion. Science and atheistic ideologies adhere to a much more elaborate and intelligent foundation - ask questions, question common knowledge and never be blind to what you are investigating. There are so many answers, so many questions. None of which, to be truthful, are accounted for by any written book of belief.

Now, when a religious group bends or breaks the law based on the sole fact that they are a religion - nothing more - and cries abuse for being stood up against, it appears that something is wrong. Christians have from the beginning been persecuting those who were innocent, and now they wish to remain free of correction when they are guilty.

Through retrospective eyes, future civilizations will liken current religious doctrines as arcane and rediculous, just as we do for early ones now. They will liken the cross to a volcanoe, jesus to Pele, as more astute thinkers now do. Religion as a way of understanding the world will not maintain itself, just as no lie can be sustained forever. The bible is just a book, writen by a few men who really knew nothing about the world with the clarity of today. It is a fable, a story, a fairy tale - every culture has its story and its fables, God and the delusive pretense that 'he' created us in his image is simply our fable. Well, not mine, but that of contemporary religion. With the avent of the scientific methodology of asking and answering questions, only recently has knowledge becoem the foundation of understanding. And the more we understand, the more we realize that there is no truth to religion and their human-centric evaluations of truth are simply outdated, ill-educated, perceptions of nature.

Yet they still hold power because they hold votes, and it is plain to see that political ideologies stem from votes, which stem from blind faith. So, is it any wonder that our systems seem blind and sem not to serve the benefit they proclaim?


Here is a quote from a responder to a blog comment. The post to the blog is also included. It is one I have linked to many times before. A church (read: a private business who is posting advertising) wants to maintain an illegally placed marketing gimmick. It is illegal to be placed there, anyone else would be fined and or asked to move the object (can you imagine the uproar if WalMart had a huge sign here illuminating itself for no apparent purpose?), yet the church maintains that to remove it will be to go against gods will and to unfairly persecute christians.

Well, lets be realistic here. There is no god, first of all, and there is no inequality when a law is upheld for a purpose.

[addressed to another reader], the cross is a symbol of faith and a reminder to those that Jesus came to earth for a specific purpose. He is the bridge between Man and God. Jesus came for one purpose. He came to die on a cross so that others might find “The Way” into the presents of God.

www.badastronomy.com