Training Wheels
I am what you might call a lost sheep. I held dear to the religious beliefs of my immediate ancestors at first just as child, totally obedient and religious. As time passed, I became more spiritual and found comfort in this position. Now that I have studied science, I am afraid the empirical evidence has swayed me once again from the flock. The flock, an interesting analogy that is given by thousands of ministers as they wield their version of the Bible, has been effective. Many believe that without religion the world would cease to exist as man would decent into oblivion with no morals or ethics. I will dispute this claim as best I can.
First, I would like to recall a familiar moral story about a dog and his prized steak. The dog has acquired a steak from the butcher shop and made a clean get away. Along his route on the way home, he crosses a bridge and out of the corner of his eye, he sees his reflection. He misinterprets the image as another dog with an even larger steak. Unable to fight back his greed he leaps into the stream. This hasty act leads to the loss of the prized steak and leaves the dog cold and hungry. Now everyone knows this story is fictional, but all can see the benefit of reciting it to children to learn the lessons it teaches. Even though we know that, the story is fiction we hold it as dear as if it were true and attempt to incorporate it into our society. This leads me to my next point of religion to create positive social norms.
Steven Pinker introduced me to the concept of the Noble Savage, in his book “The Blank Slate”. It is how some viewed the uncivilized world tribes, composed of peace loving men. His conclusion is that we are by nature, animals with the same selfish drives. Here one can make a good argument for the need of religion to band the people together and learn reciprocity. A deity that gives a moral law is in deed necessary to build a community. This explains the different religions that emerged around the world and how location directly influences the brand you subscribe. Evolution may have not succeeded without religion, but now I believe we are ready for the next phase of growth with science to show us the way.
Enlightenment is a word, thrown around loosely, spawning images of a Merlin-like figure gazing into a large pool of water reflecting the stars from the night sky. This as we all know is how the ancients began there quests, pondering the secrets of the universe. Imagination is our greatest adaptation and has lead to our great success as a species. Before science could explain these extraordinary phenomenons, deities were readily acceptable responsible parties. To shed some light on how the Catholic Church struggled to keep science in its place, finally in the year on October 31, 1992, Pope John Paul II and the Catholic Church state their remorse in how Galileo was treated and finally recognized that the earth orbits the sun. Innocent or guilty is probably a null point for the sake of argument here. I suggest that it is a sign of the times and to me a time of enlightenment.
Bottom line;
Humans are animals that have evolved from the motherland of Africa. Holding food, weapons, and tools man stood erect. Hunting is packs encouraged the first bands and reinforced the use of reciprocal behavior. Hunters are constantly devising ways to improve their skills communication, coordination, and preplanning. Now with the groundwork laid, these bands flourished and with the discovery of agriculture, the human race exploded overnight. Agriculture allowed enough food to allow the domestication of these wild bands. With their basic needs being met men were left to discern the world around them for the first time. Warlords and Kings quickly learned the lesson of a submissive populace in order to maintain control. Religion fell into place, by either naming these leaders as gods themselves or created through a divine union. As these practices passed on, one civilization to the next, religion was imported and improved upon with the lessons learned from the conquered peoples from before. Which leads me to my point; with all the moral stories learned and science, revealing the mysteries behind the veil it may be time to remove the training wheels. Religion served its purpose, but now I fear that if we continue to cling to these beliefs we are doomed to self-fulfilled prophecy of annihilation. The Bible, Koran, and Torah, are a few of our first books of reason, but should they be our last? I should hope not as we are living in a time of exponential growth in technology, and an infinite knowledge base resource sits in living rooms around the world. Never before have had access to so much, and I am not referring to shady sites, but real legitimate research illuminating the world! A time of enlightenment has dawn, where science will become our great book of reason, which may lead us finally to world peace and harmony.
John R. Hill
I am what you might call a lost sheep. I held dear to the religious beliefs of my immediate ancestors at first just as child, totally obedient and religious. As time passed, I became more spiritual and found comfort in this position. Now that I have studied science, I am afraid the empirical evidence has swayed me once again from the flock. The flock, an interesting analogy that is given by thousands of ministers as they wield their version of the Bible, has been effective. Many believe that without religion the world would cease to exist as man would decent into oblivion with no morals or ethics. I will dispute this claim as best I can.
First, I would like to recall a familiar moral story about a dog and his prized steak. The dog has acquired a steak from the butcher shop and made a clean get away. Along his route on the way home, he crosses a bridge and out of the corner of his eye, he sees his reflection. He misinterprets the image as another dog with an even larger steak. Unable to fight back his greed he leaps into the stream. This hasty act leads to the loss of the prized steak and leaves the dog cold and hungry. Now everyone knows this story is fictional, but all can see the benefit of reciting it to children to learn the lessons it teaches. Even though we know that, the story is fiction we hold it as dear as if it were true and attempt to incorporate it into our society. This leads me to my next point of religion to create positive social norms.
Steven Pinker introduced me to the concept of the Noble Savage, in his book “The Blank Slate”. It is how some viewed the uncivilized world tribes, composed of peace loving men. His conclusion is that we are by nature, animals with the same selfish drives. Here one can make a good argument for the need of religion to band the people together and learn reciprocity. A deity that gives a moral law is in deed necessary to build a community. This explains the different religions that emerged around the world and how location directly influences the brand you subscribe. Evolution may have not succeeded without religion, but now I believe we are ready for the next phase of growth with science to show us the way.
Enlightenment is a word, thrown around loosely, spawning images of a Merlin-like figure gazing into a large pool of water reflecting the stars from the night sky. This as we all know is how the ancients began there quests, pondering the secrets of the universe. Imagination is our greatest adaptation and has lead to our great success as a species. Before science could explain these extraordinary phenomenons, deities were readily acceptable responsible parties. To shed some light on how the Catholic Church struggled to keep science in its place, finally in the year on October 31, 1992, Pope John Paul II and the Catholic Church state their remorse in how Galileo was treated and finally recognized that the earth orbits the sun. Innocent or guilty is probably a null point for the sake of argument here. I suggest that it is a sign of the times and to me a time of enlightenment.
Bottom line;
Humans are animals that have evolved from the motherland of Africa. Holding food, weapons, and tools man stood erect. Hunting is packs encouraged the first bands and reinforced the use of reciprocal behavior. Hunters are constantly devising ways to improve their skills communication, coordination, and preplanning. Now with the groundwork laid, these bands flourished and with the discovery of agriculture, the human race exploded overnight. Agriculture allowed enough food to allow the domestication of these wild bands. With their basic needs being met men were left to discern the world around them for the first time. Warlords and Kings quickly learned the lesson of a submissive populace in order to maintain control. Religion fell into place, by either naming these leaders as gods themselves or created through a divine union. As these practices passed on, one civilization to the next, religion was imported and improved upon with the lessons learned from the conquered peoples from before. Which leads me to my point; with all the moral stories learned and science, revealing the mysteries behind the veil it may be time to remove the training wheels. Religion served its purpose, but now I fear that if we continue to cling to these beliefs we are doomed to self-fulfilled prophecy of annihilation. The Bible, Koran, and Torah, are a few of our first books of reason, but should they be our last? I should hope not as we are living in a time of exponential growth in technology, and an infinite knowledge base resource sits in living rooms around the world. Never before have had access to so much, and I am not referring to shady sites, but real legitimate research illuminating the world! A time of enlightenment has dawn, where science will become our great book of reason, which may lead us finally to world peace and harmony.
John R. Hill
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