By Aaron the Humanist
Star Trek fan Aaron gazes heavenwards and wonders why, with the whole of human knowledge now widely accessible, ancient gods and deities have not been laid to rest. Do some people just prefer faith and illusion to reason and rationality?
Reading John Glazer's article this month, in which he stated that during his childhood the internet was still thirty-five years away, I was struck by the thought that maybe humanity became much more knowledgeable at that point, with all of human knowledge potentially at our fingertips. Clearly not precisely at that point, but as the World Wide Web developed, access to an almost infinite amount of information became possible. The ability to source information on any topic instantly, from our computers, our phones, or from Alexa is unprecedented in human history. Yes, yes, there are still secrets, classified files and personal details kept mostly under lock and key, but on the topics of science, religion, and global understanding of why, how, where and when, we have humanity's research and results readily available.
Yet with all this knowledge and research, have we proved without doubt that no god exists or that we are indeed on our own? That there is no Lord and Saviour who is going to help us, guide us, recreate us from scratch or take our essence afterwards where we can live again after death? Clearly not, given that billions of people appear to communicate with various gods on a daily basis. But, in that case, why have we not yet created a device to detect and monitor these telepathic communications? How deep underground would a person need to be before God's messages to them were blocked by concrete, soil, steel? Can one pray and get answers from inside a bank vault, or a nuclear bunker?
From my perspective, it seems obvious that the internet has given us all of the information we need to support the notion that God, Jesus, and deities don't exist. Science has proven many times over the age of the Earth, what it's made of, what humans are made from, our composition, our electronic brainwaves, and how life begins. Science can look back in time for evidence of global floods, dinosaurs, cavemen lifestyles and even what their diet consisted of. It should be possible for a child of any learning age to go online and get answers to any question they posed, yet some are discouraged from doing so by their faith.
The internet has made scientific knowledge widely available, but by the same token it can also empower religion. Despite our age of science and rationality, billions of people seem to prefer faith and illusion to reason and rationality.
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