BOCA INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY

Saturday, December 24th, 2011 3:30 a.m.

Tomorrow is a very special day for some religious types and especially for kids, for a totally different reason. We celebrate the festivities of our ancestors as they have done for some 2,000 years. We accept the beliefs of our ancestors or change our mind along the way and start to  believe something else. It is the right of mankind to do so and for that reason many countries today accept the practice of all religions within their borders. So, being an athiest or agnostic, whichever I am, I don't believe that the stories I have been told since childhood are the be all, end all of religion. Remember, they were first told 2,000 years ago when everyone was afraid of everything, when the Romans pinned people to crosses and threw the Christians into the lions ring to be eaten by the most feared beast of the day. Then there is the one about the virgin birth and Adam and Eve only having two sons. That sure ended the family tree. Oops, where did the rest of us come from? Now in the 20th century we look to the heavens not for God or Christ but to see how much and how far we can see. Heaven, as some believe it to be, is not just above the clouds like our ancestors always thought. And the angels do not sit on the clouds and play harps. In fact, today we are looking at worlds that could support life that are more than half a dozen lifetimes away and we seem to have the means to see them. Now how do I mix the beliefs of 2,000 years with all that, toss in the millions of years of unrecorded beliefs before that, add the fact that we are descended from the same tree as the Great Ape's ancestors and carry more than 96% of the genetic makeup of the Bonobo,  a smaller version of the Chimpanzee, from whose tree we branch off? The answer is simple. I cannot. For those reasons, I cannot believe in modern views of religion and my intelligence tells me that although I cannot tell you how our world exists or developed, I can tell you that the efforts to take advantage of the past as a fear tool is nothing new. For 2,000 years we have listened to the battle between heaven and hell and now, in the 21st century, the Anglican Church has finally come to the conclusion that there really is no such place as Hell. Wow, what a relief...I am sure I was headed in that direction. Then there is that old line, "if the facts don't fit the story, make the story fit the facts." Now, that does not mean that I disagree with the teaching of religion, they have played a most important part in the development of our world and allowed us to slowly establish communities and ourselves as humans with rights and wrongs, with values and with a number of other traits that have put us ahead of the rest of the animal kingdom.  Unfortunately, an adherance to religion has held back a number of races of people and their staunch beliefs have also killed their own kind. But, even so, they too are beginning to realize that they have to change to be come part of a better world. Like most of my family, my intelligence is rated in the top 5% of the population yet at the same time, I am not perfect. But it will also tell you that if I think some of what I am saying is intelligent, then maybe you should think about it too and think about what you believe. I have a respect for all the goodness that religions of the world have brought to our world and totally believe that it is time that religious persecution should be ended forever. Yet there are others who are so embeded in their beliefs and fall in an intelligence level so far below mine that they cannot be reasoned with. It is these individuals who hold back the rest of the world and make it a difficult place to live. Perhaps one day, the beliefs of the world will change their ideas when we finally are able to answer the question, "how did the whole world and universe begin?" Only then will we be able to live in peace and go on with our lives without the fear of what is over the next hill. Until then, be kind to your neighbour, love your family, accept that others have different religious beliefs, customs and attitudes than you and do your best to accept what is without having to change it. In that way, you will come to understand others, their ways of life and together we will hopefully make this a better place to live.

Happy Holidays!