Freethought Philosophy Science

No, I have not forsaken three quarters of a lifetime's atheism and found myself a god or a guru. But I would like to set out my reasons for being profoundly unhappy - as I have been for 25 years - about belonging to a movement with the general label "humanist".

There are four basic ways of looking at life. First, you can become a mental whore, prostitute your brain to the first god-peddler who comes along, usually the same one who polluted your parents' brains. From that point on you believe precisely what you're told to believe. This means you can switch your brain off, you don't really need it. There's no need to think or reason, just go about life robot-fashion... do this, don't do that, think this, don't think that. It's what most of the world's population does.

With the slow but inevitable demise of the Christian faith more thinking people, in this enlightened age, start to question the shaky foundations upon which Christianity is based, more people are displaying an increasing interest in Paganism and other ancient cults as an alternative to the faith that has failed humankind.

It has always been purported by the numerous religions that have come and gone throughout the ages that they have the answer to; what is the meaning of life?

What they are saying has nothing to do with the meaning of living, other than life is a preparation for the after-life. That they all have their own versions of this "joyful" event is evidence enough for the casting of some doubt on whether spending ones whole life in preparation for death and beyond is indeed a wise course of action.

Since time immemorial humans have experimented with the seemingly dual concepts of good and evil. Religion has more than somewhat jumped on the bandwagon with the introduction of rules, which, in reality, are just fluffed up conventions of behaviour of any reasonable society. There is nothing new or marvellous, concerning good and evil, in Biblical commandments and expectations, which would take it beyond societal norms. If that book or others like it had never existed, the world would not be in either turmoil or mourning.

INTRODUCTION

The following are the notes I used for my presentation to the Atheist Society on "The Emotional Brain" on 12 July 2005 at the Trades Hall, Carlton.

BIOGRAPHY

Our one and only home, planet earth, is under human attack as never before. Orbiting space-craft witness and record the decimation of its smoke-hazed forests, changing temperatures in its oceans, the melting of its ice-caps, the chemical assault on its atmosphere and its expanding deserts.

At ground level, individuals and groups bear the brunt of ever-worsening storm surges with resultant chaotic flooding, unmatched wild-fires, endless famine, salting soils, respiratory illness, polluted drinking water and a host of other environmental negatives.

Primitive humanity used stick, stone and fire technology for thousands of years before Judaism, Christianity and Islam was invented. In some regions this primitive albeit efficient survival technology continued into recent history. Science and technology as we now know them, has caused significant changes to humanity's lifestyle bringing it from primitive existence to modern civilisations.