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.
