Why?
Seventy three years of good living
I've had. I have enjoyed the love and companionship of two good
husbands. I appreciate the love and support of my four
children. I have been fortunate to have my life span from the old
horse and buggy days to the computer age. I am grateful to the
forces which have allowed it. But I haven't put back into the world
a like amount of what I have received. I owe. I have to
add my voice to those who have already spoken. Religion sets a
person's eyes on the mystical, away from the world; it is the side-tour which
turns man's eyes to things which are untrue.
Blessed are they who by their own
intellect are able to accept this life for what it is and are able to paddle
their own canoes and sail through life without the leaky theological lifeboat.
I am a humanist. Men/women
are the supreme beings of the universe. The future of this earth is
the responsibility of mankind. Nature reigns supreme and is a
jealous ruler. Nature does not forgive. Those who disobey the laws
of nature pay. There is no second chance. Finally, in the
end, it won't be God's wrath which will destroy the world, it will be the wrath
of nature.
When the forests have all been
destroyed; when the rivers are contaminated or dried up; when the last clean
air is heavy with pollutants. perhaps man will at last recognize his doom and
turn to God whom he believes has been the director of all things, and can
restore all things. The last leaders of the world will call for a
day of prayer when all humanity petitions God for forgiveness. "We
didn't know what we were doing, God. Forgive us. Give us
back our world and give us a second chance."
The prayers will be so loud they will
penetrate the polluted skies, pass out into space, dodging satellite debris,
glancing off Mars, swishing past Saturn and Pluto on through the Milky Way. At
last, bouncing back through the thick haze to those anxiously waiting, will
come the answer,
"GODWHO?"
There it is, Ross. Perhaps
it sounds cynical and fatalistic. I believe that love of our family
and our neighbors, concern for the planet on which we live is the only hope for
the human family to continue to exist on this rapidly shrinking place called
Earth. Concern for each other is not a divine commandment. It is a
social necessity. The Golden Rule exists in some form or other in
every religion. Christ did not bring love into the
world. It was here long before he arrived.
I do not need the idea of God to help me identify the world in which I live. I believe that life is its own greatest reward. Just to be aware of the world around me gives life all the meaning it needs. I am comfortable with my philosophy. I seek no converts. I need no converts. I challenge all who disagree with my philosophy to seek his own philosophy with as much candor and honesty that has gone into my research. Search for the truth. It will make you free. If you are afraid to look at the truth then you will always be a slave.
It is the obligation of every good
citizen to dissent when individual rights and freedoms are being destroyed or
endangered. The greatest of these freedoms and rights is to know, to
know who he/she is and how she/he fits into this world, and how the world in
which we all live fits into the universe. When that knowledge is
denied anyone, when that knowledge is twisted and distorted deliberately
through fear and/or mysticism then the freedoms and rights of that person have
been abused.
Unless organized religions can openly
promote the rights of everyone to KNOW without fetters and without limits then
religions are the abusers of human freedom.
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