Religion

"If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time."

- Bertrand Russell

Oh, religion; a disease of language, the crack of the mind, that teddy bear delusion that most of the world holds tight. Like a junky smacking his veins, the faithful hold on to their beliefs beyond all reason. Long past the point when a rational being might say "I'm in error."

It seems that Religious Folk (tm) have greater need to protect their religious experience than they do to save their religion. Consider evolution. Despite the evidence of a dense fossil record, and the clear web of evolution being discovered in the DNA we, and all live, are built from; there are those who claim that it's unreasonable to say Evolution is more likely than a creation myth from ancient Mesopotamia. What's even more galling is that these same people have no problems reaping the benefits of science that clearly shows their religion is tripe.

Now, for all those who don't interfere with scientific pursuit I have no problem with the kindness of saving them from whatever horrors science can protect them from. But consider the various calls for a ban on stem cell research. Is it reasonable to exclude all those people from whatever cures are discovered by it? It's not ethical for a doctor to refuse anyone treatment who needs it. But what about for society? Is it ethical to demand a cure that you tried to quash? Is it ethical for us to let someone die just because they're foolish and misguided?

Religion seems to be as permanent to the human condition as drug abuse. While we are homo sapiens, we'll never escape this comforting delusion called religion. Maybe it's due to the stress that comes with planning an uncertain future that gave our ancestors who could brush off anything that wasn't going to kill them immediately an advantage. Perhaps religion's use comes in unimportance of long term planning for the vast majority of the human population. For most of human history, only a few made choices for the whole population. If so, then Democracy may be the most inhuman of pursuits. We can either let one or the other fail. I'd just as soon change humanity then change democracy.

[EDIT: Here's a great interview with the makers of Jesus Camp. ]