New Bible

Sacred texts teach deference to authority; that´s part of what makes them sacred. A credible idea of God implies an idea of power. How to Read the Good Books From the Torah to the Quran, sacred texts can resist and reward modern readers. By Adam Gopnik. The New Yorker (1/28/2019)

...charge with blasphemy any religious or political leader who claims to speak with or on behalf of God.” ... “The great religions are, sources of ceaseless and unnecessary suffering. They are impediments to the grasp of reality needed to solve most social problems in the real world.” The Meaning of Human Existence, Edward O. Wilson

“The word God is for me nothing but the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of venerable but still rather primitive legends,” Einstein

"The great unmentionable evil at the center of our culture is monotheism. From a barbaric Bronze Age text known as the Old Testament, three anti-human religions have evolved -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These are sky-god religions. They are, literally, patriarchal -- God is the Omnipotent Father -- hence the loathing of women for 2,000 years in those countries afflicted by the sky-god and his earthly male delegates." ~ Gore Vidal

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character of all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.[1] Richard Dawkins

The bible is anti-woman, blaming women for sin, demanding subservience, mandating a slave/master relationship to men, and demonstrating contempt and lack of compassion: "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Gen. 3:16

“Make your own bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

"There are those who want to repress reason. Christian, Muslim, and Hindu fundamentalists, and those who pick a totem market economy, the liberal economic state. These are all anti-reason. " Amartya Sen. from Harper's Magazine, June 2009.

It is tribalism, not the moral tenets and humanitarian thought of pure religion, that makes good people do bad things. The Meaning of Human Existence, Edward O. Wilson

Regarding liberty, justice places limits on the amount allowed; regarding equality, justice places limits on the kind and degree it allows. Thus justice is the sovereign idea among those that we act on—it places limits on the subordinate values of liberty and equality. Too much of either liberty or equality results in an unjust society. I agree with Adler, justice is the ultimate idea of moral and political philosophy. John G.Messerly, PhD

Sacred texts should be regarded as ancient, historical artifacts that reflect the state of knowledge many centuries ago. We have learned a lot over millennia. Indoctrinating kids with centuries old writings is to introduce them to authoritarianism, superstition, and a view that people are not part of nature, do not control their own destiny, and have no responsibility for the environment.

Better to rely on updated text that explains what we now know of the origins of the universe, the earth, life, man, morality, and our challenges. Not to do so is to continue to deceive ourselves and our children, hold back education, continue cultural conflict, and deny the challenges we face. It should replace not just the Christian Bible, but other 'sacred texts that misinform. indoctrinate, and tend to authoritarianism. We are not much good at governing.

Since science is a belief system with a well developed methodology, it is constantly evolving, it is our way to get to understanding the truth. Since it is godless, it is, by definition, not a religion.

Reject the parts of the 'sacred' texts that we know are wrong, so that we stop the misinformation. As we learn, our understanding should evolve. We will do well to avoid our own self-destruction, which looks likely.

E.O.Wilson's book Consilience [free on line] makes the case that faith is best placed in the unity of all knowledge. We will never know it all.

Ultimately, reality will win. It doesn't care if we survive. We better grow up, evaluate the evidence, and face nature before we destroy our only home planet.

Truth

Religion, to be a useful human activity, should be about seeking truth. That's not usually what it is about though. Politicians use it to advantage. (Bush says he talks to God.) Evidence does not support biblical accounts of the origin of the universe, the earth, or of species, but the faithful in their continuing willful ignorance, cling to the old stories.

Men who spoke to god, or thought they did, wrote the bible. We have such people today, but they are not ones we listen to seriously. They are sometimes locked up for their own safety. Out of their imagination they invented stories to explain the creation, the origins of life, the ancestry of man. We have gathered evidence of geological history, evolution, of the history of man and it is a rich story, but it is not the one told in the bible.

Our most prominent rulers use religion for their own ends. Sometimes they declare themselves devine. Other times they simply want more power or empire and they don't care if they torture or kill a lot of people for their own personal goals. Medieval religions became a political tool. Every city and town has churches that provide jobs to many. Resources of the faithful build impressive cathedrals used to convey the message that they are helping the poor, while opposing efforts to actually provide civic supports. The faithful tend to be Republicans.

Because they tell a story that has been shown false, major Religions are a drag on education. They discourage inquiry, they claim the revealed truth, and they often become violent when an argument arises. The faithful are the most fervent deniers of evolution, global warming, peak oil, environmental degradation, or the need to slow population growth. See Chris Mooney's book: the The Republican War on Science.

Religion, when successful, is very profitable. It is big business, it is tax-free and because it serves the short-term wishes of a powerful elite, it seems to oppose every effort to assure the long term survival of humanity and of the planet.

Declaration in Defense of Science and Secularism

Censoring Science: Inside the political attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming. Mark Bowen.

Functions of Religion

Jared Diamond: The Evolution of Religion (Video about 88 minutes.)

Medieval religion usually accompanied initiatives for empire, it is one of the major causes of war, or at least it is a pretext. It is often sexist, racist, and brutal. It relies on early childhood indoctrination to convince people of unbelievable things. As many people would like to believe, it is a way to deny death and to offer great rewards in the after-life to those going to war. That can be comforting at a funeral, but it is yet another gross misconception.

Religion is actually promoting falsehoods.

"Almost a third of ordinary Americans say human beings have existed in their current form since the beginning of time, a view held by only 2 percent of the scientists. Only about half of the public agrees that people are behind climate change...in fact, there is no credible scientific challenge to the theory of evolution and there is little doubt that human activity is altering the chemistry of the atmosphere in ways that threaten global change." New York Times reporting on a survey comparing public opinion to that of scientists.. 7/18/2009 pg A17

What's worse is the religious right thinks climate change is a hoax, but, on a geological time scale, it means life has only a limited time left on this planet.

David Sloan Wilson: Darwin's Cathedral

Commandment 1: Use your head.

Major traditional religions teach from the ancient books that, in many respects, we know now are false. That is a major source of our polarised politics.

We have learned a lot in the last 2000 years. We have instruments that established that the earth is not the center of the universe, it is not flat, and it is, as far as we can see, quite unique. Peering deep into the cosmos, we now know that it is the only place that we can survive. It is an accidental space ship. At one time when population was much smaller, we did not have to worry that our activity would destroy earth's ability to support humanity. Now we do. Our values need to change so that we do not destroy our only home.

Although, compared to human lifespan, it appears that the environment is stable, on a geological time-scale it is clear that rapid change is occurring as ice caps melt, the oceans acidify, species go extinct, glaciers melt, forests shrink, storms get more severe, fisheries collapse ...

Maybe earth IS the garden of eden.

Earth Commandments

Commandment #2: Look at the Evidence

Unity of Knowledge

Science is evolving our increasingly improving knowledge. Religion has been resisting it. Getting it right is becoming a matter of survival of the species.

E. O. Wilson: Consilience discusses the unity of all knowledge. Similarly, Einstein attempted to unify all of physics. This assumption has proven extremely productive.

Convergence, The Idea at the Heart of Science: Peter Watson

The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist: Richard P. Feynman

Universe

Astronomy has shown us that our place in the universe is very limited. We are, at the moment, prisoners on a single planet with no other place to go.

In the beginning was the big bang.

PBS series.

¨The sun formed 4.5 billion years ago, but it´s got around 6 billion years more before its fuel runs out. It will then flare up, engulfing the inner planets.¨ Martin Rees: On The Future

Technology may one day enable us to make places other than earth habitable, but don't count on it any time soon.

Perfect Symmetry, In Search For The Beginning of Time by Heinz R. Pagels

A Brief History of Time, from Big Bang to Black Holes: Stephen W. Hawking

The Origins of the Future: John Gribbin

World

At present, Earth provides the only example of an environment that sustains the evolution of life. It is a spaceship which we may be destroying.

How the earth was formed:

The geological record tells a story.

The fossil record, while fragmentary, documents the path taken by evolution. Carbon dating determines age. DNA contains the software of life and we can now simulate its growth and change using large computers. We can even create new life. (See Craig Venter's books. and related work.)

Why is evolution true ? (video) from Stated Clearly.

There is growing evidence that we have exceeded the carrying capacity of the planet, our only home, and our population is still growing.

Over population has destroyed the habitability of many places: Haiti, El Salvador, Easter Island, ....see Jarad Diamond's book "Collapse".

For Humanity it's already too late.

Life

We know about DNA and that it is the mechanism that allows life as we know it. We can use it to trace ancestry, identify individuals, look for changes, and we can modify it. But it contradicts traditional religious teachings, so it is still controversial.

Why Evolution is True

Evolutionary developmental biology

Daniel Dennet: Darwin's Dangerous Idea.

From Bacteria to Bach and Back: Daniel C Dennett

The Creation, An Appeal to Save Life on Earth, E. O. Wilson

Man

We can map the paths taken by our ancestors from Africa and to other parts of the world. DNA provides forensic evidence. See Jared Diamond's: Guns, Germs, and Steel

Religions that deny evolution also deny certain fundamental properties of people. Viewing people as exceptional and unrelated to the rest of the environment, they are often racists, and propel culture wars. To continue business as usual, they urge people to be fruitful and multiply. They think it is not important to preserve the planet. They are like Jim Jones only on a planetary scale.

All major religions place women in a lower status. See Agony in the Garden, Sex, Lies and Redemption from the Heart of the American Catholic Church.

While organized religion demonizes sex outside of marriage, in the afterlife Muslims promise many virgins, Christians look forward to either a glorious afterlife or, depending on behavior, an eternal fire. Heaven is like an affluent lifestyle.

Human Geography

Last Ape Standing: Chip Walter

You Are Here, A Portable History of the Universe: Christopher Potter.

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are divided by politics and Religion: Jonathan Haidt

Support of the State

Commandment #3: Thou shalt not kill or make war except in immediate self-defense.

Thou shalt not kill. No exceptions for the state, for foreigners, or even the death penalty. War is a crime.

Tribal warfare has always been with us, but, now that nation states have the capability for total destruction, we must stop it if humanity is to survive.

Although the ten commandments make pronouncements like "Thou shalt not kill", no major religion rules out war.

For some reason, the faithful love guns. They are inclined to use them on people they disagree with...like abortion doctors. Medieval religions, major contributors to terrorism, are a major enabler of war. Usually they want to take over the state, and rule according their own 'values' whatever they may be. Thus they become heavily involved in politics as recent US experience shows. Because they have little appreciation for first amendment law that "Congress shall not establish...", they continue to loudly complain that they cannot pray in public places including schools. They would teach their ideology, such as creationism, in primary schools.

Traditional religion justifies war. The ten commandments are only for your own. It's ok to kill non-believers or those of other states. Perfectly ok to torture heathens...if you don't kill them so the inquisition was ok.

Deuteronomy:

Joshua slaughtered all the inhabitants of 400 cities.

Large scale slaughter of different religions. Nazis kill Jews and Gypsies.

Languages/Culture

There have been few successful attempts to improve language, but we know that many languages have fragmented people and rendered communication between cultures difficult.

The incredibly productive language of science is mathematics.

Tribalism (nationalism, class, race, religion, sports, etc ) of various kinds is a motivation for violence and war. Inclusiveness is fundamental to civilized behavior.

See In the Land of Invented Languages by Arika Okrent.

Holy Hullabaloos: A Road Trip to the Battlegrounds of the Church/State Wars: Jay Wexler

Ethics: What's Right and Wrong

Major traditional religions all have laws, but law need not be from religion.

Traditional religion regulates sex, usually making women second class.

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion: Jonthan Haidt

Money: A False God

Income inequality, has a natural tendency to increase, It is unfair. When extreme, is a fundamental problem for all institutions including democracy.

Knowing that the earth is a spaceship, it is critically important to get resource allocation right. Money (the free market) cannot and will not do the job.) Currently there are many times more money than assets to be claimed. Manipulation of the currency makes a few people very wealthy at the expense of everyone else. The market, since it is run by corporations, does not serve or care about the people. It is on track to destroy the environment.

Economic entities, be they corporations or any other form, must be required to be good citizens serving the best interests of the public.

Through the eye of the needle.

Religion

Agenda For A New Economy, David Korten