This website is a “living book,” in defense of RELIGION…
My claim is that reallty is, in fact, “MAGICAL” and “ULTIMATELY MEANINGFUL”…
And, the social-cultural systems that we call “Religions” are attempts to describe the magic and promote the meaning
It is easy to conclude, however, that religious belief IS simply WISHFUL THINKING
To be truly happy, we humans need to believe in immortality and ultimate meaning
Religions support such beliefs, whereas, sciences do not (though currently, science may be “waking up”)
I’m claiming, however
that religion is NOT just wishful thinking
that the MAGIC and MEANING to which religions refer are REAL…
that current human intelligence is only in it’s EVOLUTIONARY CHILDHOOD
that religion doesn’t make sense to us well-educated children because WE’RE NOT AS SMART AS WE THINK WE ARE
that CURRENT human intelligence may compare to LATER human intelligence as does current CHIMPANZEE intelligence, or even current SNAIL intelligence, compares to current human intelligence
that, we’re just getting started…
Religion is a range of social-cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements—although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion.… Wikipedia
Obviously, I may be wrong that the magic and meaning are real — but I BELIEVE that they are real because I seem to have stumbled upon some magic and meaning STARING US IN THE FACES
That’s where I’m going — come along…
Our public schools are reasonably — but unfortunately and also unwittingly(?) — teaching our children that CAUSE-AND-EFFECT RULES — and indirectly, that religious belief is foolish
IF cause-and-effect DOES rule, religious belief IS foolish!
Consequently, I’m claiming that, somehow, CAUSE AND EFFECT DOES NOT RULE (even though we seem able to PROVE that it does…)
And the general weakening of religious belief in our country is the natural, logical, result…
U.S. schools and kids are more RATIONAL than ever — and consequently, our kids are leaving Religion in “droves”
According to A.I.
In 1960, the percentage of American religious disbelievers—those with no religious identity, atheists, or agnostics—was extremely low, estimated to be around 2% to 5% of the population.
As of 2025, approximately 28% to 29% of U.S. adults identify as religiously unaffiliated (often called “nones”), which includes those who are atheist, agnostic, or have no specific religious tradition, according to PRRI and Pew Research Center data.
In other words, for the sake of reason and honesty, our public schools are undermining our kids’ happiness
I’m all for reason and honesty — and respect the schools’ motivation — but my BELIEF is that OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS just haven’t recognized the significant evidence FOR Religion, and are consequently doing our kids an enormous disservice…
OUR CHURCHES AND SYNAGOGUES aren’t doing much better— they tell us a lot about WHAT to believe, but offer very little as to WHY to believe
So, my objective here is to show that there actually IS serious reason to believe in something we would call “MAGIC” — and RELIGION…
It’s just that the serious reason to believe isn’t nearly as OBVIOUS as is the serious reason to disbelieve
And consequently, religious parents and teachers of religion are not able to argue their cases very effectively
And, if we parents want our kids to be happy, we need to learn about the serious evidence FOR religion ourselves, and pass it on to our kids
S0, the OBVIOUS PROBLEM we have with Religion is that what makes a “social-cultural system” a RELIGION is an underlying belief in “MAGIC” — and most of us well-educated, westerners do not believe in magic.
Or at least, most of us do not THINK that we believe in magic
My claim however is that most of us ACTUALLY DO BELIEVE in magic— we just haven’t made the necessary connections…
For instance, reality is either a deterministic machine – or, it is at least SOMEWHAT “magical”
There is no other possibility
And, if there is such a thing as FREE WILL, reality is NOT a deterministic machine.
So, IF YOU BELIEVE IN FREE WILL, YOU ALREADY BELIEVE IN MAGIC
Keep that in mind as you judge western Religion…
If you DON’T believe in free will (yet), just keep thinking…
