Friday, December 26, 2008
thought of the day.165
Bertrand Russell said, “My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race.” I think it more accurate to say that fear is the disease, religion the symptom. Only when the disease is cured will the symptoms cease.
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I would like to briefly expand on this. I agree that fear is the underlying problem. Fear of death; fear that we don't have a purpose; fear of being anchorless. The more fear we have, generally, the more religious we are. It's interesting that oppressed minorities rarely seem to be atheist; I refer to African Americans and North American Indians. They may still carry fear of colonization and slavery with them, and I think they may feel the need for the structure and stability of religion.
But religion is not the only refuge from fear. Any system that is not based on REASON can be equally destructive.
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