That’s how I felt back then. But I was also a sincere seeker of TRUTH. Faith is the assurance of things HOPED for (Hebrews 11:1) — or put another way, faith is the culmination and actualization of wishful thinking..

Our reference reading for today is a Newsweek article: Can Science Explain the Concept of Heaven? - Newsweek.com – and the truthful answer can be called, literally, a no-brainer.

The thesis here is very simple: heaven is not a real place, or even a process or a supernatural event. It’s something that happens in your brain as you die.

When you get into actual research instead of relying on the many and varied stories people tell themselves, it starts to get very simple. In fact, basically, this is one of those things that is so obvious that nature is rubbing it in your face. It’s just that the meaning is too uncomfortable for us, so we run to our fantasy fiction tales instead.

I sympathize with the strong desire to believe that we are worth more than just a lifetime; that we have to have an existence beyond this or life would be pointless. I was an ordained minister, after all, because I believed in all of that. If you care about the truth, though – I mean, REALLY care – then you need to move beyond your comfort zone and look at the evidence.

You know how conscious you are in dreamless phases of sleep, right? When you dream, you’re in your own alternate reality inside your head. But between REM dream states, there is a whole lot of nothing. This is evidence from your own life, which you can test on a daily basis.

The Empirical Evidence: If you’ve ever been under general anesthesia then you have an even bigger clue. Full anesthesia is as close as we ever come to death while being able to tell others about it – and here is what we learn: When your brain isn’t working right, you don’t exist. Even time doesn’t pass. The Anesthetist tells you to start counting backward, you get a couple of numbers out and then you notice you’re staring at the ceiling of the recovery room …and it’s like 8 hours later. With just a little chemical inducement, your conscious existence ended. You were extinguished. Your mind ceased to exist. And it stayed extinguished until the chemical wore off.

What kind of leap of back-assward logic does it take to say that – sure, you cease to exist under deep anesthesia, but once your brain is completely gone THEN all of a sudden you are going to be conscious again!”?

That doesn’t even rise to the grade of retarded logic. Seriously. BUT we have a strong personal incentive for denying what is in our face and readily apparent when it makes us uncomfortable..

We all want to believe that our lives are bigger than the here and now, even though that belief is demonstrably false. So we cling to these things anyway and will even become angry when someone points out the patent absurdity of our beliefs. It is not uncommon for religious people to even threaten to kill those who point out the truth and sometimes they even act on their threats. That’s how desperate they are to avoid the facts in evidence.

I know because I was one of them.

Back to the article: It’s sad to see scientists shucking and jiving in the way you see in this article: They can’t just come out and say, “yeah, we do know what happens when you die – you can even figure it out for yourself with no help from anybody if you think about it for 5 minutes.”

They can’t do it because they would be publicly vilified, probably threatened with violence, and perhaps even actually targeted with violence. So they say they can’t prove it (yes you can) and “we can’t be sure” (yes you can!) …because they are afraid. That part makes me very sad. But I also understand that there are believers out there who are willing and even eager to kill anyone who challenges their fantasies with facts. It’s something a reasonable person should fear, I suppose, but it certainly says something unfortunate about the state of human intelligence.

We’ve talked about the teenage girl who looks like an old woman or another whose muscles are mutating in to bone. These things don’t come from people but from the nature of creation itself. So if God is the creator of the universe, then all of these things come from God. So He’s quite the practical joker.

We all just hope to avoid being the butt of His jokes.

Oh yes, I’ve heard silly arguments about how it’s all the victims’ fault. Sin, you know. Adam’s DNA was perfect, but it became polluted because of sin… totally missing the point that DNA is what MAKES us. Either God made DNA or he didn’t (assuming God exists, of course). If he made us, then he made DNA, which means he made all the bad stuff that’s in there -the things that cause conditions like we’ve talked about. If he didn’t make the DNA with all its built-in horrors then He didn’t make people. The whole argument wreaks of desperation: It is saying, “I’ll do anything – ANYTHING – to avoid admitting that my faith in fantasy fiction has been misplaced.”

All of that twisted, sick back-flipping “logic” is only designed to avoid the obvious conclusion that humans evolved and were not created by anyone. If they were created by someone then that someone would have be be a sick asshole or incompetent.

Left with no logical argument, some believers will say something like, “Well, why wouldn’t God design life with built in flaws? I mean, those uncertainties are part of the flow of life, we wouldn’t know what to do without them.” The problem is, that’s not what your storybook says about your God. Now we’re talking about a whole different being than the one you claim to worship (if you believe in the Bible, Torah, Quran, etc.) … I am no longer a promoter/purveyor of these stories so I can’t help you with this.

“The evidence includes studies of babies and children which have shown the brain is programmed to think of the mind as being separate from the body.

“This distinction allows us to believe in the supernatural, to conjure up imaginary friends – and to conceive of gods, this week’s New Scientist reports.”

It should come as no surprise that there is a biological cause for religion: everything we do comes from our biology. I know this bothers some people, particularly militant atheists. I think, however, that these curmudgeon atheists are probably victims of the same brain-mind dichotomy that infects and deludes believers since they prefer to believe in reason as if it were derived from some force separate from the collection of chemicals that defines us.

Of course it would be a fair question to ask; if it is biological, why are there atheists at all? Doesn’t my non-belief prove that it is indoctrination – as Richard Dawkins suggests – rather than biology?

But that’s like saying that other people have dark hair so my blonde hair must be indoctrination.  Well…. okay, in my case – sure, point taken. But in general there are always variations within given biological sets.  Just as some people seem naturally gifted in mathematics, some people have an overabundance of religious thinking while others have less. Like it or not, it’s all thymine, cytosine and guanine.

It’s funny that I happened to find this story today since I was just dreaming about the subject last night. My position has been that religion is an artifact of the meaning-seeking wiring of the human brain.  Our brains are so geared to seek out the meaning of things that we find meaning everywhere even where none exists.

It has occurred to me, however, that there may be more to this than mere artifact and that there may be an evolutionary advantage to religiosity. The specifics of such an advantage, however, are open to debate.

In my dream, the point was being made that while I may reject religion, it may still be a necessity for society. The fact that some of us can find our moral compass without an invisible friend looking over our shoulder should not be taken to mean that every human possesses that ability.

Perhaps some percentage of the human race cannot function without religion. If this is the case then the best goal we can work toward is to find a belief system that does the least harm. This may be difficult to advance, however, because it also seems that the most draconian and judgmental religions are the most attractive to the average person.

Joe The Believer doesn’t want to hear how we’re all brothers; he wants to hear how we’re all in deep shit and are going to have to pay for our sins… except for Joe himself, because God says he’s special and he/she/they/it has picked him to lord it over the rest of us.

(Thanks, REM-state analysis)

Maybe an uneasy tension between belief and reason is all we can ever hope to achieve. The front line for this battle, however, is not at the center of logic – as we would prefer – but somewhere in the field of non-confrontational, non-judgmental faith.  And that is a place where most atheists (and most dogmatic religionists) are less than comfortable.

Atheists claim (as I am doing here and as Richard Dawkins did in the title of his book) that God is a delusion.

A delusion is, pretty much by definition, dysfunctional.

Then it goes on to say how atheists aren’t happier than religious people and they don’t breed more, therefore religious beliefs can’t be delusional. …Eh? It’s hard to know if this writer is extremely stupid, or if he is merely trying to construct a straw man for the purpose of knocking atheism. I suspect it is the latter.

Delusion – an erroneous belief that is held in the face of evidence to the contrary (Princeton)
– A fixed false belief and is used in everyday language to describe a belief that is either false, fanciful or derived from deception. (Wikipedia)

Dysfunctional – impaired in function; especially of a bodily system or organ (Princeton)

Okay, game over. The Alternet article starts out from page 1 by being false, misleading and deceptive. We do not know if this is by design or through ignorance but it certainly makes this article a waste of time.

And if you think THAT bit of equivocation is idiotic, wait until you read the comments. Better yet, don’t bother. It’s like talking to toddlers.

Ignorance is rampant. In England a Hospital calls in exorcist after ghost spotted … One shudders to think what sort of medical service these people offer! Leeches and potions?

Meanwhile, in BC schoolteachers are being directed to a Scientology front group called Youth For Human Rights International. I’m sure B.C. kids need Scientology’s help … perhaps next year the school will be offering classes in necromancy.

The world just keeps getting stupider and stupider.

Now, the interesting thing is not that he claimed to be Christ (or the Antichrist as the case may be) but the fact that people believed him and followed him.  This proving that there is no supernatural claim that is so stupid and ridiculous that nobody would believe you.

Self-proclaimed Antichrist loses bid in divorce court to protect church assets.

“Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, who gained international notoriety by declaring himself first to be Jesus Christ, then the Antichrist, roundly lost his divorce court bid to protect his church from financial claims by his most recent ex-wife.”

A tragic accident. Or was it? Perhaps, but the unspoken contributor to this death was the deranged founder of The Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard.

Although he was a moderately successful science fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard is best known as the creator of Scientology, a pseudo-scientific UFO cult – the claims of which sound suspiciously like one of L. Ron’s B-level sci-fi yarns. Prior to his career as a con man, I mean cult leader, he had a brief and highly exaggerated military career. He also suffered from mental illness.

Jett Travolta: Time to Audit Scientology’s Anti-Medicine Stance

Whatever the cause of his seizures, a Travolta family lawyer now says Jett had been taking Depakote, an anti-seizure medication, but had to stop it because of liver damage. Liver damage from Depakote is rare; more recently, the FDA has been concerned about its link to suicidal thoughts — exactly the kind of condition Scientologists they believe they can treat through the religious coursework they call “auditing.”

We’ll never know if Jett could have been helped with proper medication. We’ll never know how many people have been duped by Scientology into avoiding medications that could have saved them – with the inevitable tragic results.

What we do know is that people like Travolta continue to choose blind faith over reason and logic, and sometimes other people have to pay the price.

…Also known as the battle between rational thinking and superstition. Presented for entertainment purposes. Click the image for a larger, more readable version.

“Virgin Mary, a 20-year-old Peruvian woman, gave birth to a baby boy on Christmas day and named him Jesus, Peru’s state news agency said on Friday.

“The baby’s father, Adolfo Jorge Huamani, 24, is a carpenter. Religious Peruvians compared him to Joseph the Carpenter in the Bible.”

These people don’t appear to be super-serious…for now. But who knows what this story will evolve into after a hundred years? This is part of how you get a religion in the first place.

Yes, what about that?

Does religion do any good? Sure! Here’s the bottom line of the good that religion does for the world: It gives people a sense of value that is bigger than themselves and their community. Religion imparts a sense of purpose, however artificial, and a sense of self-importance (YOU, after all were personally chosen by GOD!).

Religion also helps people feel good about themselves for their moral superiority – people who otherwise might have a hard time looking at themselves in the mirror in the morning … which may help explain why con men, politicians and mass murderers are almost universally ultra-religious.

In broader terms, religion may provide some sort of framework for society. This is somewhat arguable and often overstated: The claim of religionists is that every good and moral law flows from THEIR particular religion. This fails to observe that the laws to which they refer seem more likely to flow from the common structure of society and can be found in diverse places that have nothing to do with the particular faith espoused by the religionist.

Even the oft-touted Christian “Golden Rule” comes not from Jesus but from Confucious… who lived hundreds of years before the name Jesus was ever uttered. Nevertheless, religion often provides a common set of code words that help societies with a common religious base talk to each other and in that sense religion does provide us with some sort of common framework.

Last but not least, members of all kinds of religions perform “good works” according to what they believe the super guy in the sky demands. These things should not be discounted and might even be proof of the generic goodness of religion if you are viewing the subject in a purely pragmatic way; like a ‘features and benefits’ comparison that isn’t really interested in factual underpinnings. In this view, any means that achieves a desired end is “right,” acceptable and good.

To those concerned with achieving knowledge of reality, however, the big problem with any religion – Christianity, Islam or what have you – is not its balance sheet of good deeds versus evil, but the fact that it simply isn’t true.

Despite sensitivities on this issue, it is not unfair to say that – to the serious unbiased investigator – formal organized religion appears to be an artificial construct and ultimately nothing more than a collection of fantasy fiction stories misconstrued as fact, regardless of the brand name put on it. So it doesn’t matter if a person performs good deeds in the name of Jesus, Allah or Star Wars’ “The Force,” it’s still FICTION.

I can tell you from personal experience, however, that there are many MANY Christian Bible scholars and theologians who’s vast knowledge of the history and origins of Scripture have made them quite aware of the mythical basis for their religion — yet they still attend services, deliver sermons and generally devote themselves to their faith. This fact should be considered as strong evidence for the power of religion in people’s lives.

So perhaps evidence and facts really don’t matter? Every religion, after all, is the TRUE religion for its believers. Some people say the earth is a ball, some say it’s flat…and they back it up with Biblical authority. They are so sure that they are right that maybe they ARE right. I mean, as long as actual testable information doesn’t matter, the only test we have left for truth is the strength of ones beliefs. In the world of religion, you see, whoever has the strongest faith wins. And if all that matters to you is what you BELIEVE, then the discussion must end there.

We haven’t talked about the down side of religion, of course: Christianity has had its witch hunts, killing thousands and thousands of innocent women in the most horrible ways imaginable. Islam still has its public stonings for many crimes. Christianity has had its Crusades, killing hundreds of thousands of people in the name of God. Islam has had its Jihad. The cruel and vicious acts in the name of religion are too numerous to mention. And the excuses and explanations of why these things don’t matter are equally numerous.

The potential of great evil is always present in religion because one can always say “God told me to do it” or “it isn’t ME who has declared ‘THOSE PEOPLE’ to be enemies of God and worthy of death, but GOD HIMSELF.. I am just carrying out His will.” And once again, we cannot agree: The rationalists would say that this is proof of the evil of religion and the need to eliminate it; the person of faith will declare those things to be in the past (for now) and will consider himself to be persecuted just because you brought it up.

So where does this all leave us? On one side we have the rationalists, who demand evidence and proof – and having found none, have declared all religions to be bogus.

On the other side, we have true believers, for whom faith is all that matters. In the closest thing to common ground with rationalists, they too have declared all religions to be bogus and fairy tales…. well except THEIRS, of course! They have also gone on to declare the rationalists to be enemies of god, and “fools” for not believing.

In the end, then, it seems that agreement between rationalists and religionists is not possible because they each start from a different – and completely irreconcilable – point of reference. The rationalists starts with what he can know based on testable evidence while the religionist starts with what he believes.

With this in mind, perhaps rationalists need to follow their own advice and bend to reality: Religion will never be eliminated because it is too much of a drug to the human ego. Therefore, the best that one could hope for would be to encourage the least harmful variations of religion with the hope that it will eventually become dominant over the currently more wide-spread, fear-based religions that produce so much violence and bigotry. It might not work but it is worth a try – in my opinion.

If you are thinking about starting your own religion, you might want to read my article on the birthing of religion.