I was just thinking today about the construction of my web site. I got to the point where I had to split my index page on religion into sections. The first, biggest section, I called "Destructive," because it is dedicated to tearing down the harmful, evil structure of religion. I fully expect that this will remain the largest section for quite a while. As a matter of interest, I recently found that one of the 19th century's prominent heretics, Robert Ingersoll, was primarily concerned with combatting Christianity, and I feel that he had pretty good reason to do so. I, on the other hand feel that it is important to keep in mind that in addition to pulling down the old structure, we should also be careful to work on providing a newer, more useful and durable structure to replace it.
So it occurred to me to ask the question: "What makes atheism superior to theism?" After all, atheism is the absence of a belief in God. So how can the absence of something be so advantageous? I can answer with an analogy.
One of my favorite hobbies is astronomy. From the very first time I looked through the department store telescope my parent bought me oh so many years ago, I was aware of the problem presented by the atmosphere. Between us and the universe is an ocean of air over 100 miles thick. It is useful to us as life forms, allowing us to breathe and carry on our lives. However, it hinders us from being able to see many details of the universe we live in, distorting much and hiding completely much that is important for an understanding of the complexities of the universe. Getting away from the atmosphere, into the vacuum of space is essential to having a clear, pure view of the universe, and to getting the knowledge of exactly what is out there.
In a similar way, religion does the same. It clouds our minds, distorting many things, and completely hiding from our view others, making a good understanding of our world and ourselves impossible. If you remove the distortions and clouds, you will see clearly what is happening in your mind, the world around you, and in the universe in general. To free one's mind of as many preconceptions and superstitions as possible, and to follow the quest for knowledge wherever it may lead without reservations - that is the best way to learn about anything. Such a way of viewing the world does not preclude the possibility of a creator - but very few claim to have been led to such a conclusion, using nothing but logic and verifiable evidence.
However, the analogy is incomplete. While air is sometimes a hinderance, sometimes vital to life and therefore indespensible, the same can't be said of religion. There are millions of people who live lives just as happily without religion as those who have it. My parents and sister are just such people, as am I. It may be true that many people believe that they need religion to get through their lives, but I seriously doubt that they have seriously considered even visualizing the atheist life. I invite the reader to examine the other articles in my site - not just those on this "religion" page, but in all the areas linked from my home page. You will get a better idea of what happens in my life, and maybe you'll be able to learn from that material that the life of an atheist is far from the drab, loveless, lifeless drag that preachers try to portray.
Update: 2/4/2000:
A reader of this site (apparently there are a few of you out there!) wrote in to make this point:
Is religion harmful for everyone?
Allow me clarify my question. I don't believe that people are born of equal disposition. I believe some people are, for example, more erratic than others. So isn't it plausible that some people may need something as erratic as religion to steer them right? For example, there have been many famous sports role-models who have "turned to God" in order to give up addictions and violence, and in doing so have cleaned up their lives.
This is an interesting point concerning the good effects that religions can have on people. I do not deny that there are good, useful aspects to the way religion works in our world. In fact, if it weren't the case, I don't expect that religion would be viewed in a positive light by anyone.
Personally, I think that religion has a soothing or comforting effect on people (from a personal standpoint) and so is seen by them as beneficial. Hence we get comments like those of Marx (religion is the opiate of the people, according to him).
From a societal standpoint, it has proven to be a useful way of maintaining conformity to each society's rules (Napoleon was quite well-aware of this, for instance). Which is why every religious person is so very concerned over the issue of morality. I suspect it has a lot to do with the attitude I have observed that many people have, that those outside their religion are not to be trusted on moral issues.
I guess that religion can be said to have a certain amount of utility in the maintenance of public order, as it has tended to do so in the past. Certainly, for those who are brought up with the notion that they are ultimately answerable to some supernatural policeman, religion may be the only answer to the problem of self-control.
However, I think that looking at the total picture of even those situations, we come out with a net result of personal harm, because such people as you mentioned are, at bottom, cleaning up their own acts using purely human effort, and are yet convinced that they and their helpers (in the case of additcs in these 12-step programs) are only able to achieve their successes with supernatural aid.
