Is anyone else scared? Really, really scared? Not just for themselves and their families but for the human species as a whole? Does anyone else think the human species is currently facing the single, biggest threat to its existence that it has ever faced? Does anyone else think most of us are oblivious to the threat which is upon us, while others are blindly and actively contributing to the current collision course with extinction we are on?
The threat I speak of is religion.
In particular, the fundamentalist and extremist elements within the worlds Abrahamic religions. While moderates within these groups claim these radicals do not represent their faiths, the radicals claim they do, and they are focused on the goal of imposing their oppressive religious beliefs on the rest of the world, and destroying those of us who will not submit.
While radical Islam is IMO currently the biggest threat, the problem is not inherent to Islam, nor is it specifically rooted in fundamentalist or extremist beliefs. The real cause of the problem is our willingness to make our religious beliefs exempt from rational, critical-thinking.
We are somehow able to discount the ridiculous religious beliefs of others, yet make our own beliefs exempt from the same level of skepticism we apply to theirs. We are able to use rational, common sense in believing almost all other things we believe, with one exception... our belief in a personal, biblical God as worshipped by the worlds Abrahamic religions.
In the days of spears, swords, cannons and muskets, many a great civilization has been destroyed by foreign invaders and religious crusaders representing various faith groups. Each army was fueled by blind belief in their God, and their feeling of superiority over their enemy and their assertion of a right to impose their religion on others.
Many a horrific deed was done in Gods name in the past, but geographic isolation and limited weaponry made the impact of the fall of civilization in one part of the world, insignificant to civilization in another part of the world.
Times have changed.
While attempts to conquer, overthrown and control each other continue, along with claims to be doing Gods work, we are no longer separate civilizations, and weapons of mass destruction ensure that what happens on our planet now happens to all of us together.
In the days of the cold war, the madness of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) kept somewhat rational individuals from pushing the launch button for fear of reprisal by their counterpart, resulting in joint annihilation.
While this may have worked in the past, when combined with todays ongoing religious beliefs that require the suspension of reality, and which are fueled by a need for the existence of an afterlife, the result is deadly, as witnessed on 9/11 and in countless suicide bomb attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq since then.
While moderates from all religions remain in denial and claim this is not us, to the non-believers among us it all looks the same... a suspension of rational thought and free-thinking regarding God and religion resulting in insane beliefs, and sometimes insane horrific acts.
Bottom line, while moderate groups insist on their rights to suspend rational thought for the sake of preserving their need to believe, we will always have those who will use this same vehicle to justify violence, and now to invoke a Nuclear Holocaust.
My belief is that unless addressed, this situation will almost certainly lead to a self-fulfilling End of Days scenario, and bottom line, if the religious moderates are not willing to move towards rational-thinking, then we are all doomed.
Everyones thoughts welcomed.
(Inspired by Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris)
