by Keith Cantrell

Created on: March 12, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

It is time to admit that religion is worthless. It has passed its prime as a positive force for good in our world. Don't believe me? Allow me to explain.

Lately, because of the war in Iraq, Americans became acquainted with the Islamic religion like they never would have on their own. As can be seen from the headlines, the Muslim extremists only want on thing: for the rest of the world to convert to Islam. In the west this is unthinkable because we value the freedom of religion. The Muslim terrorists who insist that we convert or die are simply appalling to us. However, the scary part for me is to realize that many Christians actually feel the same way. Go out and ask your Christian friends if they think their religion is the only true one and many will say yes.

We don't have to go very far back in our history to find examples of Christians slaughtering others for the sake of their God. In fact, the examples start right in the beginning with the books of Exodus and Joshua when God supposedly commanded both Moses and Joshua to slaughter the inhabitants of the Promised Land including women and children. Since then the bloodshed has never stopped. Constantine started the modern Christian version of this genocide by threatening to kill any of his enemies who didn't convert. Then there's the bloody Crusades when pious Christian knights swooped down on the Saracens in the Middle East and killed with impunity anyone who was not a Christian.

In northern Europe the conversion to Christianity was completed by the 13th century and then the Protestant Reformation came along and the killing started all over again. This time is was Christians killing other Christians because they couldn't agree on what the "truth" was.

What is my point? Just this. Religion has been responsible for more killing, hatred, bloodshed, bigotry, intolerance and degradation than any other force on the face of the earth. In light of ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and the attack on our own country on September 11, 2001 by Muslim extremists, I say it's time to admit that religion is more of a liability than an asset.

In fact, it's all based on myth. There are Christian myths, Muslim myths, Hindu myths, Buddhist myths and many, many pagan and animist myths. I like to refer to religion as "myth-information." So, get rid of it. Throw it out in favor of reason, logic and freethinking. Don't let anyone else tell you what to believe. Find out the truth for yourself and then you'll have something real to believe in.

Only by appealing to our ability to use reason and logic will we ever find true peace in this world. As long as we cling to archaic ideas about God and spirituality we will never find the common ground necessary to build a bright future for our descendants.

Think about it!

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