Post 1

What I probably have the most trouble with is how little people talk about religion in public. There appears to be a double standard that to hold religious convictions with an intense fervor is OK, but to express them openly will sort of "jinx" the magic or the secret of the supernatural. Why don't we here more honest inquiry out loud? I have no problem with Christians who can be honest to others about what they believe but I do not repect those who hide behind a mask of one who has all the answers, who feels sorry for you because you are going to hell, who plays the game of certainty even though he or she does not believe at all. I have most respect for someone who says "I don't know" sometimes, who does not have the propensity to say he or she feels sorry for the poor lost souls who haven't found the word of God in the Bible. And those of us who have not been fortunate enough to not see the light and to avoid the temptation to take our eyes off the emperor who has no clothes---we continue to be left out of the mainstream conversation or the silence that implies that "we know all the answers, so butt out until you're ready to play the game along with us."

Writer Christopher Hitchens describes the religious mind as "literal and limited" and the atheistic mind as "ironic and inquiring." He has his finger on some truth here I think, because magical thinking is radically different way of seeing the world verus scientific and critical thinking. Those who urge us that God is in control and to not worry miss the point. The point is that those who do not take aggressive control of their own lives are doomed to failure. Abe Maslow's concept of self-actualization is lost in the foggy haze of determinism, a way of thinking that must become extinct if humankind is to survive for the next several thousand years.
Hitchens says "religion poisons everything" and that he can prove it by citing numerous historical examples. This may be taking it a bit far, but it's not far off of the mark. Magical thinking may indeed delude us into some sort of wandering somnabulism that is truly dangerous for independent and critical thinking. How is critical thinking rejected by religion? Well, just try to mention the name Carl Sagan in the midst of a bible study group. I actually did this once and got some very interesting looks. There was an 83 year-old man in the group talking about flying in golden chariots in heaven after the group leader asked us to think about what heaven is like. I was excited about all of their dreams. Some talked about heaven being a place far far away where you will meet your dead relatives. Others talked about all the glorious things God has in store for us. I chimed in saying the infinity of the unverse is enough to mystify me, that the unknown wonders of the universe being uncovered by scientific study was a great reason to be alive. I shared that there are so many interesting questions and discoveries to be made in our world and in the universe. I also mentioned that Carl Sagan motivated me to look at science in a new and wonderful way. I got a lot of looks from people who probably wished I hadn't had mentioned a secular humanist in a church. It was as if some were thinking, "Whose talking about the universe? We're talking about God and the Bible." To many of them I might as well could uttered the name "Carl Satan."