RELIGION IS KILLING US

Religion has caused devastating wars. Its authoritative, master-servant construct produces an alternative reality that promotes the concentration of power in dictators. After all, religion conditions the servants to worship and blindly follow a capricious leader. 

The Bible is an insidious book. In fairy tale fashion, it depicts a narcissistic creator who demands his creation worship him and blindly follow his whimsical laws. And then he threatens eternal fire if his slaves do not obey his commands.

Religion creates an alternative reality. God is invisible in three parts, presumably surrounded by angels. He gives his progeny the ability to think and then orders them to not think. He sadistically commits genocide when his servants misbehave as he ordained. He creates and impregnates a woman who bears him, a son whom God allows to die an agonizing death to atone for the sins of those hapless souls whom he created as sinners.

Above all, God is great and moves in mysterious ways. Under threat of eternal fiery damnation, his followers must worship him and act and avoid acting according to a confusing playbook. The type and number of tickets the sinner must have punched to prevent perdition is vague and ill-defined,

Driven by fear, the servant must accept and live in a world of alternate reality. Actually, it is illusory. He or she is part of a cosmic plan written by many anonymous authors before science was invented. They are told what to do and do not think for themselves.

So, it is no surprise that adherence to religion causes the slave to accept an earthly dictator and to live totally in an alternative reality peppered with conspiracy theories. Why not? The cult follower is at home. He is in a comfortable place. Trump is God. Trump does not sin. Trump moves in mysterious ways. Trump's lies are truth in the fantasy world. Trump is to be followed for fear of punishment. 

The natural and fantasy worlds are on a collision course headed for annihilation. The highest calling of the truth seekers is to lead the fantasy believers to reality. 

In the meantime, a vote against Trump is a life and species saver.

Bill Spriggs 11/19/2023

INFINITE REGRESSION

In the search for the explanation of the universe's origin, the atheist, without evidence to test by the scientific method, asserts, without rationale, that it is unnecessary to continue the search because either there is no cause or the cause is unknowable. The theist is quick to conclude that God created the universe because the Bible says it is so. Stephen Hawking explains how something came from nothing or translated; time and space produce something. But the philosopher demurs with the infinite regression conundrum.

The atheist and the agnostic share the philosopher's correct answer.

The theist eschews the search for evidence and the use of reason in favor of a fictional and unverifiable answer based on the assumption that the question is quickly answered. The atheist also stops the inquiry by arbitrarily pronouncing, without supporting rationale, that the search is over. Or, it is possible that something can come from nothing, a theory so far not proven to the layman's satisfaction. However, even if established, the idea is still subject to the problem of infinite regression. If something from nothing, what caused something, and then what caused that.

What if infinite regression is the first law of physics. There will always be an endless search for a first cause. The overarching immutable law is no first cause. To the layman, Stephen Hawking supports this view when he explains the origin of the Big Bang. But is that not the position the atheist takes now. The difference is the atheist should not suggest the inquiry is over because that position lacks support in evidence or rationale. Instead, the journey in search of the first cause goes on. The correct position is agnosticism.

Astrophysicists can reliably predict that our universe will survive for trillions of years and perhaps more. Other universes probably exist. We will not.

Our species may never know the origin of the universe. In the present, the atheist wins, for there is no credible evidence of a god as a cause. For the projection into the future, the agnostic wins.

WHAT IS THE TEST?

Sol has ignored infinite regression of causation, has chosen the Christian Gad among the thousands of others, and has chosen the Disciples of Christ as the correct demonization of the Southern United States sect. To get there, he had to assume a whimsical God who wanted to experiment with his human creation as a celestial game. He moved in mysterious ways by allowing humans to see how stupid and cruel his game was. Sol made a choice to believe despite evidence and reason to the contrary. He also guessed on which religion, church, and sect. Finally, he had to buy in on faith alone to the ideas of heaven and hell.

So, now what? He awakens on the eve of death to wonder what the test is for getting into heaven and avoiding hell. What is the test? Where is it written? How often must he pray? How often must he go to church? How many and what good deeds must he perform? How many evils must he avoid?

But he was about to die. The priest did the priest thing, and all was set for Sol's trip to heaven. What is Heaven like? Sol asked the priest. "What?"

WHAT COUNTS . . .THE SINGULAR PURPOSE IN LIFE

I knew from an early age that the singular purpose in life was to discover reality, what is accurate, and what is fiction. I was indoctrinated to believe in the Christian religion. It was at age 17 that I questioned the truth of the indoctrination.

I could not believe a good and omnipotent god would permit all the human suffering, particularly of babies.

The rest is the substance of my life. There is no credible evidence of any god. There have been many. None exists. The universe just is and is among many. Postulating a cause requires solving the insoluble problem of infinite regression. Even if there is a god, which one, dead or alive. Which religion? Which sect? What to do about it? The disorganized, unintelligible, hateful Bible was written by people of questionable credentials and intelligence who saw everything through the lens of intellectual progress of 2,000 years ago.

I can see clearly now that science can save us from our delusions expressed in religions. However, as I write in 2023, the prospects look dim. I did my part. I did not indoctrinate my progeny; they agree with me with some notable exceptions.

The unexamined life is not worth living. So now what? I need, we need, to attack ignorance and stupidity as best we can. The species will not survive the poison of religion.