Tuesday, April 8, 2014

True Faith Does Not Deny Science and Reality

While not intending to demean anyone because of their religious beliefs since one of the great things about this country is that you can believe pretty much anything, but have you ever considered why you believe so strongly in your religion? Was it because, as a young child, you did exhaustive research into all the religions of the world and found the evidence for one particular religion to be convincing? Or, was it because as a young child who trusted your parents and saw them as incredibly smart; you were indoctrinated into your parents religion before you were capable of mature critical thought? Isn't that the reason that your religious assumptions are so deeply ingrained and feel so right? And isn't that the reason that everywhere you look on Earth, children, with very rare exceptions, believe in the religion of their parents and believe that that particular religion is THE TRUTH whether it is Protestant, Catholic, Muslim or whatever?
To a five-year-old, parents are incredibly knowledgeable and trustworthy, by the age of 15, not so much. Looking back, do you think your parents, unique among all the people of the world, were actually right about everything? Do you think your parents had special insight into the nature of existence or were they just doing to you what had been done to them? Didn't you just blindly adopt most of the views of your parents who blindly adopted views from their parents and so on down the line? If you are nothing more than just a conduit for taking the views of our ignorant ancestors and pounding them into the minds of our children so that they can grow up and do the same, then what was the point of your life? How can you make a difference?

What I am suggesting is incredibly difficult. To hold up long held core assumptions to the light of scrutiny is the most difficult task most of us can ever undertake. True faith does not deny reality, it embraces it.