It’s really not difficult to be skeptical. Most of us are about one thing or another. Think about it. I happen to be skeptical about one more think than the average person and for some reason, a lot of people want to set people that think the way I do, apart. I do not choose to defend that which, to me, indefensible. It doesn’t matter how much anyone attempts to interpret the ancient languages in which the belief was initially transmitted or how painfully the interpolation is made for an event completely out of context. No explicit meaning is just that and anything beyond nothing more than magical thinking.

For thousands of years, our ancestors looked to the skies and saw the gods traversing the heavens during the day (the sun) and night (the moon). These gods and goddesses brought life an order to nascent societies that were attempting to manage their lives in the way these gods regulated day from night,and the seasons for planting and harvesting. Even when our ancestors learned about the science that governed their universe, they opted for gods that would reward or punish based on the ethical and moral lives lived. We developed the idea of an afterlife because or ego couldn’t accept the idea of just not existing. A life beyond the physical is a psychological defense against the terror of self annihilation. But then – we came from nothing, didn’t we? Or, as some believe, existed all along, just not in this sphere.

What we have today is nothing different, in essence, than what we had hundreds, even thousands of years ago, just wrapped in a veneer that is palpable to humans that have been to the moon, and lived in outer space for months at a time, and looking forward to not only colonies on the moon, but Mars as well. Will we have churches, temples, synagogues on these other planets as well? We have no reason to doubt there will be, at least eventually, because people will carry their beliefs with them no matter how far out in the universe they traverse. The flags of their gods will be planted as surely as their flags of their countries were during the exploration of this planet just a few hundred years ago. And yes, as we know, those explorers/conquerers brought along their religion as well as their swords.

What’s the big deal anyway, you may ask? Nothing really if you’re satisfied living as a toddler your entire life. It’s time for us to grow into the current century a put away those things that do nothing to advance our society and culture. How many have died, just in this century and how many more have to be sacrificed for some idea of an all powerful, beneficent, god? Just watch the news. It’s in our face on a daily basis.

Once we accept the fact (yes, fact, because we have no proof of anything else) that this life is singular and that there’s nothing beyond, no matter our ego, then we can begin living better amongst ourselves and our neighbors. It sounds like a dream, and it mostly is, because religionists aren’t going to go away meekly. They’ll use whatever tactics are necessary not only for their mythology to survive, but to make sure it spreads farther and faster than it is now.