Atheism has taken over as the world's intellectual
authority. The church held this respectful position when religion was at its hay day. In
the past few decades science and technology has provided man with so much power and free
time that now philosophers, scientists, and technologists are sought to answer the most
difficult of questions.
Philosophers, scientists, and technologists have something in common with atheists—they
are not afraid to ask questions. You see, Atheism is a state of
mind—a way of being. Atheists, (and free thinkers, agnostics and humanists) are people
whose fundamental way of being, is to ask questions and to doubt everything. They
habitually lift rocks to discover what underlies them. They do not believe anything
absolutely. They know that to believe something absolutely, closes the door on further
learning. The volume of useful knowledge that has been gleaned from approaching life in
this manner is evidence that Atheism represents the learning edge.
The term Atheism is generally used to include not only atheists, but humanists, agnostics,
free thinkers and all those who cannot make the leap-of-faith required to believe in a god
or to accept the basis of a religion. Some atheists view religion as just a nuisance in
our lives while others are attuned to the social monster that it is and to the harm that
it causes.
When a philosopher, scientist, technologist or an atheist is confronted with a difficult
problem they know that the answer lies in their ability to formulate pertinent questions.
These are not people that take a leap-of-faith to the first answer that is offered.
There is much learning needed and it will take brave atheists to face up to the severity
of turmoil that the world is in today. Monumental atrocities are rampant in the world
today.
- Our population has increased beyond the planet's capacity to provide us with a
sustainable economy.
- We are turning the planet surface into chemical soup.
- We are unable to stop countless species from becoming extinct.
- We have a serious problem with deserts increasing in size and in number.
- We are being faced with growing concerns of global warming and ozone depletion.
- Fish stocks are declining.
- Clean water supply is decreasing.
- Forests are being harvested and not being replaced.
- Topsoil is limited and is eroding.
- The possibility of an unstoppable disease is present.
These are the main environmental atrocities. Just as serious are the social
atrocities:
- Fifteen million of us die from hunger each year.
- An equal number of us are blinded or otherwise maimed for life as a result of
malnutrition.
- One in five of us live in abject poverty.
- Three million of us die from the effects of smoking tobacco each year.
- Wars fuelled by religious differences are killing and injuring countless people.
- Political upheavals and economic instability are constant threats to our
well-being.
- Greed and crime are increasing and getting uglier each year.
All these atrocities are inseparable from each other. They all are related to
each other either directly or indirectly. Overpopulation seems to be the root cause to
many of the environmental problems; however, statistics show that poverty-stricken people
have more children than people with a healthy income.
Getting back to Atheism and religion. Propagating false information about
messiahs can only make matters worse. Every effort in getting individuals to face up to
the dire global condition is needed. This includes taking away their imaginary gods. This
includes revealing the nonsense and insignificance of their folk lore about messiahs.
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