Once what we call science seemed able to answer all our
questions, something that what we call religion failed to do; but science also failed
us, and now many people have returned to religion – pretending to believe in
gods, just as they pretended to believe in science, because they can’t believe
in themselves.
Scientists of the mind, mindful of science’s failure, and
ours, now claim belief in gods is not only natural, but beneficent; a survival
strategy we evolved because believing ourselves under the protection of a god
gives us the confidence to act in a mysterious world. If this belief was once beneficent,
it now threatens to destroy us.
Believing in beings whom we know, consciously or
unconsciously, are our own invention makes us warlike, ready to fight those who
believe in other gods. We must prove to ourselves, even more than to them, the
strength of our faith in our gods.
Believing ourselves under the protection of a god that,
no matter what we do, will save us from the consequences of our actions so long
as we remain faithful to it, makes us reckless. A realistic awareness of our
limits would be better now that we have the power to destroy the world. Instead
we retreat further and further into the fantasy that Gott mit uns. Whom the gods would
destroy, they first make mad.
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