In my last
hours of life I would much rather have an atheist by my bedside to help me with
my passage to the other side. An atheist because I know he/she is there for no
other reason than to aid a person in need, no motive of scoring points for a
good deed, just an unselfish, honest person. That is the kind of person whom I
wish to look upon before I pass. As a theist, I believe there is only one
person that stands right with God and that is one that is honest.
2. Religion provides the basis of morality.
If this
were true then believers would be the most moral of all people and unbelievers
the most immoral, of which is obviously false. One does not need a religious
moral code in order to know it is wrong to beat your wife. Again, history has
clearly taught us that as a model for morality one would not look to the religions
of the world. We do the right thing because it produces the right results. If
anything, religions, because of their strict adherence to their scriptures
provide the basis for immorality. I say this because their intolerance and
outbreaks of violence against others and against one another have always been
justified by obedience to their holy books.
This
argument is brought up often, that the world will have no moral basis. Yet, why
would God impose any moral code? If He has where is it? Is it the moral code
found in the Old Testament? Let's hope not. Is the moral code in the New
Testament? There is none. It can be said there is one moral code that
supersedes all in the bible and it is love, God, love self, love others
(Matthew 22). However, this is the one statement dismissed in favor of the one
such as "suffer not a witch to live," (Exodus 22:18) and others.
Interestingly,
as a minister one of the most difficult things to do is to get people to love
themselves. Religion has so ingrained in them that they are unclean, unworthy,
and are as filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:18ff). This is not
healthy; it is a pathology that has no place on a starship.
3. We cannot leave this journey to godless
atheists. We must have God's blessing.
This is my point. The proponents of earth bound religions do not believe humanity can
survive without their religion. All
of them see it as their role to continue the battle against the unbelievers,
for the sake of humankind. On a starship, can there be two competing ideologies
one of which must dominate the other because it is the will of God that all
submit, or accept their doctrine for the good of all? Us, vs. them, the hidden holy war. I laugh when
I see a Christian debate an atheist; I laugh because the Christian shakes the
hand of the atheist, smiles and is kind and generous but I know that the
Christian believes, and teaches others, that that atheist, along with all
others like him/her, is going to burn in hell for all eternity. Which of the
two, the atheist or the Christian, is disingenuous? Again, history and current
events, underscore that fact of inherent exclusiveness earth religions. It is
always us vs. them.
4. We are different. The actions you point out
are those of extremists.
No, moderates are as
dangerous as the extremists they condemn. All extremists carry the same holy
books the moderates carry and it is these "writings from God' that provide the
basis for extreme behavior. The moderates condemn the extreme but they never
repudiate their holy books from which extreme behavior arises. On a starship, a
space colony, an interstellar community, all it takes is one charismatic
fundamentalist who believes these same books to be the authoritative Word of
God to destroy the entire community! Remember, the earth is large and can bear
the blows of fundamentalist religion, not so on a ship of ten thousand, much
less two religions, or three.
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