 hmm
I was refered to this blog by a friend.
I have to say, Bravo. As someone who went to Catholic schools for twelve years (soon to be sixteen -- go go postgrad), this article sums up my thoughts on organized religions. Often times in religions classes, I would question and prod and challenge the teacher. Ultimately, every thing came down to "Chris, to those with faith, no answer is necessary; and to those without, no answer is possible". I found that response extremely unsatisfying. It's a cop out.
I do think answers are possible. If I have faith in anything, its in science, logic, and reason. Humans haven't been on this earth a very long time, and already much of the religious mythology has already been debunked by science and logic. I see no reason for this trend to not continue.
The article made me think of Occum's Razor for some reason. "All things being equal, the simplist solution is best". Perhaps, Steve needs to make an eleventh reason. Organized religions are just simply unnecessary. Why do we need religions to be good people? We don't! Many of the moral codes within religions already exist in social contract theory. We have the rules already, why can't we eliminate the excess with an Occum's Razor principle?
To me, I have always viewed religion as a tool. When humanity was immaute, religion became the means through which people dealt with and understood the world. Humanity has evolved and so has our consciousness and understanding of ourselves and the world arround us. I think there has been a paradigm shift, where Science is/has (and I would argue needs to) replaced religion. Eventually something may replace that, but science really is the best option we have at this point. Does it require faith, sure! Faith isn't a bad thing as long as its grounded in something logical.
Anyways, first post ever. I really felt the need to espouse my views. This is a subject that I feel passionate about.
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