Free to Doubt or Smart Enough to Disbelieve

As far as I can tell, those are truly the only two choices left up to man without any concrete evidence to the contrary. When speaking with fundamentalist Christians regarding this issue, they often cite biblical passages or paraphrase (more often than not) what they have heard in church. Most Christians (lay-persons) have never done a thorough study of this text they love to [mis] quote, and ministers and pastors in the pulpit only study the parts which support their sales pitch.

If I had cancer and there were three companies out there with the only believed cures to the disease, each of them claiming to be the “light and the way” to a cure, yet with the only accounts of the miracle cures being from regular every day human beings from years gone by in the Holy Enquirer, Sacred Sentiment, and the Magnanimous Manifest – which one would I choose?

This is how I view the three predominant religions. One of which is (based upon ancient scripture) of course God’s chosen people (sorry George Bush, but the Jews and Nation of Israel still hold dibs on that one), the others, the Christian religion to include Catholicism, and of course the Nation of Islam. One does not openly recruit, and while there are orthodox and non-orthodox Jews in the Western World – I have never heard of a Jew accused of extremism; while on the other hand, the other two who do seek converts from all over the world – the Islamic and Christian religions – turn out a nut job every decade or so.

It would seem if someone were to choose a religion, then the non-recruiting/converting religion would be the choice – until you read its holy book – which is the first half of one and a close cousin (actually half-brother) to the second – and upon reading you do not find anything which endears you to God, Yahweh, or Allah. He is a murdering, jealous, ignorant, petulant god who is also perhaps a wee bit power hungry. He reminds me of the three year-old who has been told to allow his visiting cousin to play with his favorite toy for the next hour. He is reminded it is HIS toy, it was bought for HIM by his parents, and when his visitors leave, he regains possession of his toy. If God, Yahweh, or Allah created the earth, the Universe as it were… then who is he to instruct his people to claim or fight over lands that will ultimately be returned to him when the visitors die out anyhow? And what does he use it for? Hasn’t his “favorite” toy been left to its own devices for billions (six thousand if you buy into the creation story – and come on!) of years anyhow?