Evolving Religion

SURELY BY NOW WE HAVE ALL NOTICED that our religions are more trouble than they're worth. They require that we get out of bed at strange times, and embrace primitive beliefs. We are asked to worship some deity thousands of years old, with eh value system of primitive humans. If the god of the Old Testament is real, then the universe was created ans is governed by a petty, psychotic serial killer and mass murderer. Read it for yourself, and weep. Why not let our religious beliefs evolve? It wouldn't be nearly as painful as one might think, and in fact, religions do in fact evolve, such evolution is inevitable, and necessary. You can help. Next mass, quietly pass on communion, eschew the symbolic cannibalism, if you can without starting a scandal. George Washington did, and he seems not to have aroused much scandal, although more than a few folks wondered what his religious views really were. Politely, when appropriate, mention unto others that you to think that God inspires all true human art and intellectual achievement. You might even mention that you enjoy wandering the stacks of large libraries, for the sheer number of books, the sheer amount of human scholarly erudition at your fingertips. No particular book, in this context, stands out as superior to the human mind. Salute the brave souls at the Council of Nicea, who intrepidly persisted until they had agreed upon an official canon of writings for the christian church. Thus was the bible born; in convention, through human collaboration, historically verified. One might even assert that if one feels the need to pray more than five times a day, one should do so without fear of divine retribution, surely Allah is not petty. Bad ideas and beliefs and modes of thought stalk the planet, in all of us, holding us back. We can retain all the virtues of religion, without keeping the fear and superstition. In any reasonable system of thought, "do unto others" makes perfect sense; why cloak it in dogma and rigidity of thought. We need to arrive at a time and place where religious differences do not cause human strife, and the sooner the better. Long live religious individualism, down with religious uniformity. And, as always, long live the Earth.