I Must Not Tell Lies

Day 2

I've been staring at the blinking cursor for the entire evening. The words won't come. When I read today's topic I immediately knew what I wanted to write about, what I oppose most. The single greatest crime humanity has committed against itself. Unfortunately, I cannot be an advocate for religion.

Sure, there are plenty of arguments for faith: comfort, community, genuine belief, activism, moral guidance, and last but not least, Pascal's Wager. Alas, there is an argument against each. A better argument. And that's without even touching on the ongoing effects of this crime: misinformation, the castration of scientific exploration, genocide, the many crusades, murder, child abuse, sexual abuse, sexual assault, sexual mutilation, the whole scale of hate crimes, the suppression of women, withholding education, and the massive unending conflict over a tiny piece of land where questionable stories supposedly took place.

No, I'm not saying that religion is solely responsible for all crime. I am simply listing crimes here which have been and still are committed in the name of a god, with the support of a religion and/or inside a religion itself.

So you see, it wouldn't just be writing in favor of something I disagree with, it would be flat out lying. I would love to go into the argument in detail, but Christopher Hitchens has done it better that I ever could in his fantastic book, God is not Great. Regardless of what you believe, you should read this book. You may feel like faith gives you something special, but wouldn't your energy be better spent giving something special to the world?

The Answer's in the Question

Day 17 Assignment


This is not a discourse
on The nature of reality
Perhaps it is a diatribe
on illogical morality

Myths created order
in a world lacking explanation
Myths created laws
and developmental castration

But someone has always
continued asking “why?”
Until most myths
were discarded as lies

Except for a few.
Those myths are sacred
Question those tales
and face mass hatred.

But read those books again
with a fine-toothed comb
And start asking the questions
out and at home

Has religion truly brought us
more good or more harm?

Is a world without a god
really cause for alarm?