Inventing Religion

I AM FORTUNATE to have been parented as I was. Both my grandmothers were born in the late nineteenth century, both were devout Christians, both wore dresses to their wrists and ankles every day, under all circumstances. They both, had they had the opportunity, would have tried to force the Christian religion upon my sister and me, I am certain. I can't prove it, but I strongly suspect that my parents strongly admonished them that they were not, under any circumstances, to ever attempt to influence my or my sister's religiosity. They never did, and for that, I am grateful. Every human being should be allowed to invent his or her own religion, unhindered by external coercion. There are ample opportunities for role models and guidance. Any devout christian who wants children to be raise as Christians undoubtedly has faith that the lord and Christ will make it happen, without human help. Any parent who tries to force children to be Christians, or to be any other religion in particular can be justifiably accused of child abuse. Goethe said it best: "When I realized that everyone invents his own religion, I decided to invent mine." When I was twenty eight years old, under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs, I started believing in God. To this day, I still do. My religion is best summed up by a quote from Einstein: "My religiosity consists in humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit which reveals itself in what little we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. I cannot conceive of a personal God who would sit in judgment over creatures of his own creation. Morality is of the highest importance, for mankind, not for God". I have never encountered a more beautiful statement of religious faith, a more sublime religious creed. When I was young, I absorbed through society the notion that to be a Christian made a person superior to people who were not Christians. I finally, as I grew older, realized that this is not true, that there is no reason to believe that it is, that the quality of a person's character was unconnected to a person's religious beliefs. actually, studies indicate that in general atheists and agnostics tend to be better people, morally, that deeply religious people. Recent studies also indicate that extreme religious fervor is a from of brain damage, damage to the frontal cerebral cortex, causing cognitive impairment, resulting in abnormally rigid and lack of creative thinking. My personal experience tends to make me agree with both these theories. Religion is associated with reverence for authority figures and deeply entrenched systems of thought, social organization, and patterns of behavior. Religions, all organized religions, tend to be rigid, unaccepting of change, and tend to resist new knowledge. At one time the Christian religion refused to accept that the world is a sphere. then it tended to resist teh notion that the Earth revolves around the sun. Even today it tends to resist the fact that human beings evolved from other forms of life, preferring to believe that a creator formed people out of dirt. this pattern of behavior causes me to believe that devout Christian are not my intellectual equal, but rather, are inferior. Any system of thought which refuse to accept reality must of necessity be considered inferior. Fundamental, evangelical Christians are even now revealing their moral and intellectual bankruptcy by their widespread support of an American president who is almost certainly a sexual predator, and is beyond dispute a pathological liar, a cruel man who hordes personal wealth and exhibits nothing but contempt and hatred towards anyone who fails to show admiration for him, and towards people who have the temerity to disagree with him.Anyone who has read the entire bible cannot fail to notice the barbaric, psychotic behavior of the Biblical deity. Their poor judgment may therefore be attributed to the fact that they have been influenced by too many poor role models, and not enough good ones.