Religion and Science

Yes I am an atheist...but I am not a nihilist...I wish people were more connected instead of divided. I wish compassion hasn't been replaced with condemnation...I try to leave a situation better than I found it...To quote Spock: The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few or the one...I realize faith, organized religion, and science are three distinct entities...The world has battled between science and religion for centuries. Galileo was jailed for his science. Religious dogma wanted the earth to be the center of the universe until science finally prevailed. Most scientists today accept the science of global warming, yet some disagree. Bush even muzzled scientists who were proving global warming; he made them rewrite their data. Reminds of me Galileo recanting his science under pressure from the Church. Science has cured disease after disease, gave us nuclear technology, but nuclear technology lead to Hiroshima and Nagasaki too...Science is a two edge sword, but so is religion...how many people have died in the name of Christianity? The Crusades and the Inquisitions come to mind...our Christian nation systemically destroyed the Native American culture...not very Christian...then the Christian nation enslaved and lynched black people for decades...even reached the conclusion after the Civil War that blacks were 3/5ths of a person...again, not very Christian. Religion is a wedge dividing the world...we have Born Again Yappists as I call them, stating that Catholics are not Christians...the arrogance...what if God and Jesus hate the whole Protestant Reformation? Religion has become my God is bigger than your God...I am saved; you are condemned...But again personal faith is different than Big Religion...Religion, like science is a series of tradeoffs...my faith is in passion, compassion, humor, creativity, and the seasons...I prefer to roll with the changes of the season...the warmth of summer, the chill of winter...I want politicians to represent the people and not Big Business and Lobbyists...I also realized that the people hardly matter anyone...look at Bushworld and King George...Bipartisan to Bush is simply agreeing with him...I hope we change the path we are on...return to a interconnectedness...one world, one people...ain't gonna happen though..we are all out for ourselves...I wish I wasn't cynical...hell, I don't even fit in with the atheists...I have no problem with children saying the Pledge of Allegiance with one nation under god…although I wonder how many people know “under God” wasn’t added to the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954 as a way to differentiate the suddenly god-fearing USA from the godless Soviet Union. Apparently, god wasn’t important enough to be added to the Allegiance until then…strange since the Pledge’s first incarnation was in 1892! I cringe at the intolerance in America...ban Imus, the word nigger, while racism lives on...Blacks have only had the right to vote for less than 50 years...in a Christian nation...I wonder if gay people are only 2/5ths of a person...I realize the simple idea of we are born in pain, live in pain, die in pain, then become worm fodder isn’t as elegant as a Genesis to Revelation…No justice, no heaven, no reward, no forgiveness is one bleak story...I want to take that leap of faith, but I simply continue to find reasons to live, love, laugh, and heal in a broken world...I enjoy life everyday despite the insanity...most people talk about the glass half full or half empty...I simply see a glass with water in it...not empty or full...I am glad the glass ain't empty since I am thirsty...I hope people wake up and connect to each other again...I wish I had more faith...To quote RD Laing: It is better to insane in a sane world, than be sane in an insane world...