The Truth Is Not Enough
When I was a child, I loved Greek Mythology. The stories about the gods, goddesses, titans, and heroes fueled my imagination and entertained me for hours. I can’t remember how or where I got it, but when I was around nine or ten, I had a book about the Greek hero Theseus I took everywhere. It was my prized possession!
But, unfortunately, I left it on my school’s playground after playing with some of my friends, and by the time I remembered it and went back to get it, someone had taken it. I never saw it again. I was sad about it, and for a long time, even longed for it. It was like losing a very close friend.
However, although I thoroughly enjoyed every story. And had often imagined that I was Theseus; I never believed the stories were real. That they had actually happened. They were always stories. This is the reason I don’t understand why people think religious mythology happened. That two people populated the world, that a serpent and an ass talked, and a man lost his strength because someone cut his hair, among many other myths. I find it difficult to believe people who claim to believe these things don’t know better.
So, what’s going on? Why do people accept mythology, superstition, and mysticism instead of seeking and accepting the truth? What is it about religious beliefs that people are afraid to challenge them? Even when facts have proven them wrong.
Some would find it offensive if I told them I don’t thank God for waking me up every morning. Because the truth is, God doesn’t. My brain’s reticular activating system does.
And if I explained that even for a god, waking eight billion people at all times of the day and waking all the animals, birds, spiders, reptiles, and other creatures that sleep, day in and day out, would be highly inefficient; many would bend themselves into pretzels trying to explain why, for their god, it wouldn’t be. They would fall on their swords to defend their beliefs. No matter how absurd.
Religious indoctrination has affected some to where the truth is not enough. In their minds, there has to be something more. Even when there isn’t. And sometimes, in searching for the more they need, people become susceptible to lies, misinformation, conspiracy theories, and pseudo-religious mumbo jumbo.
Alienating themselves from family and friends, they meet others with like minds and join groups with beliefs ranging from the plausible to the bizarre. And some, infused with nationalist-styled patriotism and convinced that their group is all that stands between losing America and saving it, vote and give financial support to politicians and political parties that influence the passage of legislation that furthers their agendas. Legislation that affects us all.
Overturning Roe vs. Wade; striking down a Maine law that blocked taxpayer dollars from funding religious school tuition, and their support of a former high school football coach who lost his job for praying at the 50-yard line after games, are but the tip, of the Supreme Court’s abandonment of the Establishment Clause, iceberg.
The obvious question, then, is now that the Supreme Court has unabashedly revealed itself to be pro-Christian, specifically, pro-white nationalist Christian, where does that leave the rest of America?
The short answer is, if the rest of America does not soon recognize that our system of “checks and balances” is an illusion. And take action before America First, Christian dominionists, and other white nationalist Christian groups can implement agendas that will forever change America’s balance of power; and, in effect, the rights and freedoms of every American citizen. We will lose our Republic.
And though many of you might think I’m an alarmist or hysterical, I am neither. What I am is blunt. What I am offering is the truth. However, I’ll leave it to you to decide whether the truth is enough.
We’d like to know your thoughts on the matter. Take a moment. And let us know what you think in the comments section.
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