RE: This Is Why You Suck
November 7, 2011 at 1:43 am
(This post was last modified: November 7, 2011 at 1:53 am by Cyberman.)
For me it has to be that I recognise it for the mythology it is. I can't get excited about some magic fairy in the sky nor pretend any of it is real; any more than anyone, including theists, believes that the Egyptian sky goddess Nut was real. Since childhood, I've had a passion for astronomy, inspired by my Dad and fuelled by science fiction, and whenever I look up at the night sky I see the Universe - not the Heavens. Reality is far more exciting, and far bigger, than anything in a dusty book of fairy tales.
I'm also well aware of religion's place in history, as a weapon against the working classes. To a credulous mind in an atmosphere of superstition, the threat of post mortem torture for 'sinful' behaviour (such as even thinking about the obscene wealth of the church) is a very potent one. It's been the tool of choice for kings and emperors to keep the starving masses from rising up and overthrowing the vastly outnumbered ruling classes. That it still exists today, that people willingly, even happily, enchain themselves in stultifying superstition and then throw away the key... it's too pathetic for words.
That, in the the nuttest of shells, is a large part of why I can't buy into any religion.
I'm also well aware of religion's place in history, as a weapon against the working classes. To a credulous mind in an atmosphere of superstition, the threat of post mortem torture for 'sinful' behaviour (such as even thinking about the obscene wealth of the church) is a very potent one. It's been the tool of choice for kings and emperors to keep the starving masses from rising up and overthrowing the vastly outnumbered ruling classes. That it still exists today, that people willingly, even happily, enchain themselves in stultifying superstition and then throw away the key... it's too pathetic for words.
That, in the the nuttest of shells, is a large part of why I can't buy into any religion.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
