Life is great. It’s a mystery. The universe is wonderful. It is a mystery too. I love mysteries but I do not think religion has any answers.
I am an antitheist because I do not believe there is a ‘god’, I believe the scriptures were all devised out of the minds of men and religion does more harm than good. So I would like all religion to end.
That does not mean that I would actively persecute religious people or that their beliefs should be mocked. I believe that as the evidence stacks up and the scriptures are revealed as medieval products of superstition – belief will wither naturally.
I have respect for anybody who chooses to believe in whatever they want.
I will oppose anyone who wishes to indoctrinate children or force their views on others. Religion should be a free, personal choice.
I would oppose any fundamentalism or theocracy. I do not see religion as having any place in schools or governments. That is dangerous and reprehensible.
Modern history has clearly demonstrated the hypocrisy in religion. The priests who abuse children clearly do not believe their own doctrine. The Jihadists who kill, torture and rape clearly have a perverse view of religion. The drunken, fornicating monks and cardinals, the Borgias. Then we have the intolerance and viciousness – inquisitions, pogroms, crusades, Jihads, genocides, witch burnings and torture. It is still going on today.
Our knowledge of how these scriptures were put together by primitive Middle Eastern cultures clearly shows that they are contrived.
Religion has its basis in the ignorance of men exposed to the mystery of life and the universe. The viewpoint and intuition of thousands of years ago does not hold any truths for me. It was superstition not wisdom.
I decided to put these personal views of mine into a poem.
Righteous arrogance
There is a righteous arrogance
That is only matched by ridiculous ignorance,
As we give our allegiance
To the indoctrinators of innocence.
And they betrayed us with impudence
With child-molesting expedience.
They did not even believe their own penitence
As they exploited with diligence.
From the portals of time
When all was complete mystery;
When conjecture was prime
And truth lost in the history,
They devised the excuses
For ‘what was’ and ‘what would be’;
They devised scriptures
To explain earth, sky and sea.
Without instrument or knowledge
We scanned heaven and earth
And gave ‘holy’ men a pledge
Of what their status was worth.
With their tall hats and rich cloaks
They ruled the warm hearth.
While we toiled in the fields
And they watched us with mirth.
In this time of great understanding
We can now clearly see the story;
Based on the evidence we are handling
Of the battles so gory
And the parts that ‘they’ stand in
As they assumed the glory.
Heaven and hell they were peddling
Fear the currency so hoary.
We find that the Ark does not hold water
The stories were fable
To ensnare sons and daughters;
Tales for dark nights round the table,
Not facts to take to the altar
Or Gods on which to hang a label.
For we have intelligence that does not falter
And knowledge that makes us more able.
It was all a pretence
That should remain past tense.
Opher 10.8.2015
