My god can beat up your god... infidel

No banks took a hit this week but that doesn't mean other things didn't get hit. Here we see an unexploded bomb from Syria. Imagine that hitting your house. And even if it didn't go off it could do some serious damage. I like my duds of the milk variety thank you very much. Aside from the greed and tribal differences stirring the hatred and fighting in the middle east we have something as old as Methusela making for unpleasant mornings filled with rockets and dead women and children. That'd be religion. It's almost an illness when you think about it. All centered around superstitions of an ancient era when men danced around a fire hoping for a better hunt the next day. I'll explain.

 I used to be a somewhat religious guy but then I had a bout of sanity and all that changed. Like it or not we function as self serving and self protecting organisms in a finite universe. We always wonder where we come from but that question will never be answered. There are no scientific instruments to measure heaven or hell. No Ghost Busters gizmos to measure ectoplasm or the coming of Zool. And there's something that gets echoed several times through out history farther back than the days of Jesus. A concept that some martyr died and will some how magically come back to grace our presents. The idea has been repeated several times even before Jesus. It won't happen. Not unless Doc actually did invent a time machine and Marty shows up on your door step looking for his sports magazine.

 So in our feeble attempt to make sense of this world we call life, superstitions were born. It's our poor attempt at trying to seek logic only too much of it was illogical. Dancing in a circle isn't going to make the crops grow no matter how fervent the effort. And yet like Charlie Brown we always seem to fall for it. It must give some sense of satisfaction or comfort or it wouldn't have prevailed this long. And there's always an excuse when things don't go as planned. Must not have danced long enough or shouted loud enough so we'll have to try harder the next time around. And when that doesn't work we can blame it on some outside force or forces. Remember we were polytheistic before the monos came into being. And the head banging against the wall continues until somebody gets the bright idea that the crops need water and there's a river not too far away.

 Somewhere ingrained in our being is a touch of selfishness. Call it self preservation but it is always at odds with preserving the group as a whole. It creates many moral dilemmas but more so is the motivating factor of fear. I'd almost be certain that the first fear was that of the lack of food and water. But it is the unfounded fears that create the biggest problems. It's that perception that the plants might fail or the river might dry up that can wreck havoc with our ability to think rationally. And hence superstitions were born. It was only a coincidence that shaking a rattle at the clouds produced rains but if it worked once why not try it again? And so rituals were started that soon developed into a religious heirachy we see today all based on things not seen unknowable or illogical.

 Researchers say there's a spiritual part of the brain. I say it's a part of the brain that's trying hard to make sense of the physical world with abstract ideas and not coming up with any good explanations. I might have bought into the religious trap had it not been for the fact that people were tortured and killed for believing scientific facts. And even today there's an arrogance of self righteousness complete with more blood shed and suffering that pervades all religions. Just study your religions' history past and present if you don't believe me. There may be altruistic concepts gracing the brands but that's just the window dressing to get you in the door. Inside it's a different story when the skeletons come out of the closet.

 I've heard some pretty stupid things come out of the mouths of religious people. Most of it about scientific facts. Well here's one for you Sparky. Had it not been for the fact that a few daring souls stepped away from the pulpit and decided to find out things for themselves then technology wouldn't have advanced. The sun doesn't revolve around a flat earth no matter how much you might want to believe it. Global warming is quite real. The earth is more than 6000 years old and computers aren't evil.