An Amnesiac Species in a Crowded Room by Scott R Heath

I’ve been asked to share my theory of how religion started. Imagine the human race started out as a small group of people with an amnesia. That’s not a big stretch to imagine. Humans arrived on this planet in a manner that was not recorded, so essentially we’re all victims of species origin amnesia. None of us know exactly how we got here. Science says evolution, religion says creation, but no matter how it happened, none of us knows the details. Now the human race is a group of humans, maybe 200 or so, all in a big gymnasium, for example. People begin asking one another, How did we get here? Then, all of a sudden, someone dies. The dying person starts to decompose and the humans drag him/her outside for burial.  Now people start realizing that the same will happen to them. Depression sets in, children become sad and begin to ask their parents what’s going on.  The mood of the crowd lowers, fights begin, panic and despair set in as well. One man sees the problem and decides to try and make a difference. He tells the crowd that he received a vision from the creator, and that if every person follows the creators rules, everyone who dies will wake up in paradise.  Spirits begin to rise and people start to believe it, even though the idea is insane. People believe it because it’s a brighter future than the realistic one.  Soon people start asking more questions about life and the man makes it up as he goes. Later another man says he has the answers and another creator, the real one, has a different set of instructions to follow for eternal life. Now people become confused and the group splits up into 2 large groups who are buying the creator story, and one small group of skeptics who know darn well it’s all been made up to make people happy and comfort children with the fictional god and heaven myth.  And that, my friends, is how religion developed these imaginary invisible friends. I remain faithfully agnostic.

The Most Hated Minority in the World

Throughout human history, minorities have been hated, tortured, killed, persecuted and imprisoned. Usually all minorities find a voice and manage to rise above the hatred and bigotry, except the minority I belong to. It’s not a racial or ethnic minority, but instead one of belief. I belong to a minority of people who don’t believe in a god or gods. They call me an athiest, but I prefer humanist. Most say a lot of human accomplishment throughout the eons have been aided by higher beings. Humanists believe that humans, however inspired, accomplished remarkable things and created civilization on their own, without divine intervention.

One of the main arguments the god-people have is moral. They say without a god to fear, humans would become murderous and descend into anarchy. Humanists believe humans are naturally moral. Whether or not there’s a god to fear, humans have a conscience and know right from wrong. Humanists are very intellectual and believe in non-violence, unlike god-people who set out to kill in their god’s name.

We created god in our own image, which is why the old testament contains so much violence. Now if people can respect each other’s religion, couldn’t they also respect people who don’t have religion?