Question For A Saturday Afternoon

When has the world NOT been riven by religious war? That'd be a toughie, because since the beginning of recorded history that's what all the talk has been about. The oldest stories, some of the them originating way before the advent of writing as a form of communication, are about three things.

1. Gods.

2. The antithesis of gods, aka devils or monsters.

3. Killing unbelievers.

Heroes arose to battle demons as well as the unfaithful. Gods and Demigods roamed the earth creating all sorts of havoc, and it predates copycat moslem and Christian faiths, because the Jews were compiling the precise percentage of spoils...camels, silks, virgins, etc, to placate their new boss of all bosses, the one God...and what a concept, way before islam came along to up the virgin ante or Christianity decided cannibalism would be cool to feature at Sunday services.

I've often asked when we'll be rid of the desire to wage war based upon the invisible beliefs of another, but most social scientists say probably never, and certainly not anytime soon. 90% of what children learn stays with them throughout their lives, be it heterosexuality or the worship of super beings, and when the formative years are chockerblock with deities the remainder of time spent on the green side of the grass is exhausted in the effort to get closer to the heavens.

The moslems, as moslems are apt to do, are at it again, and while I personally could care less what belief system causes an otherwise intelligent individual to dismiss reality in favor of fairy tale, the moslems are shoving it down our collective throats so every now and again I return to examine what started it all. We're all of us hotwired (okay, Paris Hilton and Teddy Kennedy notwithstanding) to find the answer, learn the truth, understand how things tick, and joining a heavenly choir is certainly easier than getting that doctorate in physics so most rely upon religion for their daily dose of problem solving. And just as there can be but one law(s) of gravity, there can be but one God. To suggest anything else is heresy. In the scientific community, heretics are laughed at then told to go Asia, or maybe even France, for funding. In the religious community, heresy remains punishable by death.

That sucks. I've always believed in the axiom stating that one is either part of the solution or part of the problem. And with the vast, overwhelming majority of us being part of the problem, I'm afraid the eggheads are correct. Going to hell in a handbasket, and we've greased our own skids.