One hundred years from now we will be dead but it is entirely probable that our children may still be alive. I say “probable” and “may” because it really depends in large part to who wins the culture war. For simplicity sake, let’s look at the two opposing worldviews and see which one offers the best hope for our future.
Even though I am pretty open about my atheism to everyone except maybe the people at my part-time job, I still sometimes feel like I live two lives. I have one life with my wife, kids, family, and friends, and another life online. Well, real life is distracting me from my online life again.
Over the weekend, while I was out at lunch with the family, some nice Christian put a postcard on my car windshield titled, “Why Die and Go to Hell? When Jesus Made a Bridge to Heaven!”
Anyone who is a superfan of Star Trek: The Next Generation would know that before the Federation of Planets initiates first contact with an alien world, the people of that world must first develop the capacity to travel at warp speed. Warp drive is the test that the people of a planet must pass before First Contact can occur. But what if in reality the test is something different? What if the test is that a culture must abandon religion and/or supernatural beliefs?
There was a time when people lived clustered in groups and the various groups had to compete for food, fertile land, and resources. They didn’t have much communication with those from other groups and so it was easy to see other groups as alien. Each group marked their territory and attempted to conquer other territories. Things should be different now.
I have always hated when people wore their patriotism on their sleeves, but rejected the substance behind that patriotism. It is reassuring to know that I am in good company. Early American artist, John Lewis Krimmel satirized Independence Day celebrations in his famous painting, “Fourth of July Drunk Celebration 1819 – Philadelphia” – Pictured below:
A few years ago, I got into a religious conversation with my ultra-Jewish cousin. This was a long awaiting exchange of ideas. My cousin is very smart and so I was expecting a pretty interesting debate-style conversation. What I got was the same typical arguments I have gotten from newly minted born-again Christians.
The Supreme Court just ruled that corporations can have religious exemptions from laws. This is ridiculously insane for so many reasons.
There is a lot of suffering in the world, but not to worry, they are just punishments from God for all the things particular Christians don’t like. We bring all this suffering and death on ourselves by allowing evil sinners to do things we claim God doesn’t like. That’s what some Christians are still telling me.
Rabbi David Wolpe was named the most influential Rabbi in the country by Newsweek Magazine in 2012. He is also no stranger to high profile debates with atheists like Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris. Recently he posted an interesting meme on his Facebook page which inspired me to make a comment. Wolpe responded and I want to share our brief exchange and my thoughts about it in more detail. Here is the meme: