For starters, I’ll readily admit that I’m a huge fan of the Four Horseman. If you don’t know who they are, google it, as they say. I’ll give you a hint, they are also known as the New Atheists. We owe a lot to these gentlemen, three of whom are scientists, for standing up and publicly challenging the doctrines of organized religion. Other likeminded individuals should grab the baton and race ahead full tilt. Such free-thinkers have always been with us – from many ancient Greeks through a fearless group of Europeans – but to stand up and declare non-belief (even in the 21st century) is to risk one’s health and safety. Spinoza had to flee his homeland, Voltaire had to walk on egg shells and beg aristocratic protection, today Bill Maher and the late great Christopher Hitchens have (and had) been repeatedly threatened. It’s worse in the Muslim world, which is rioting as I type, over the latest supposed insult to the prophet. Hey, I got an idea Mohammedans, if it will make you feel better, make an insulting film about Jesus, wouldn’t that show more ingenuity than the usual murdering and rampaging? Heck, I’ll even help you write the script. Give him a purple Mohawk or something and your Christian counterparts will also run amok (perhaps without quite the fervor thanks to the Enlightenment). Surely this would be a more exciting outcome than the usual! Is there not a single creative soul in the entire cult? Ah blasphemy!

Personally, I would be very pleased if organized religion went the way of the 8-track and perhaps someday it will. But do I think this will automatically make the world a better place? Uh, NO! Humans are notorious for following the most psychotic madmen, the most delusional messiahs, the most schizophrenic megalomaniacs, and so if we stamp out superstitious cults, they could be replaced with something equally sinister and ridiculous. Now I can hear the fanatical believers in the distance (standing up and screaming right now), “yeah, like your atheism, that’s a cult and one as dangerous as any other”. Uhhmm, NO! Atheism has neither dogma nor the desire to control the thinking of others; it’s simply a condition of non-belief (of absurdities passed down) and the elevation of reason and rationality above superstition. It has no Bible, forces no groupthink, and possesses no rituals. Its adherents are wide and diverse. Sorry fanatics, false equivalencies aren’t valid here. Perhaps self-examination would be a better option.

Now, I could sit here all day and rag on religion. It’s quite easy, but that isn’t the purpose of this article, besides, the Four Horsemen do a much better job than I. I’m writing to expand on a theme I touched on in an earlier essay and only because I’ve seen no one else take up the task. It concerns the elements of religion that get short shrift from the Horseman, whether intended or not. It’s why I believe most people, even educated ones, practice some sort of organized religion. It has little to do with fantasies or fairy tales.

Literalists
I believe many outwardly religious people, if seated in a quiet dark room with a couple of craft brews in their bellies, and if truly pressed and under a promise of secrecy were asked questions like the following; Do you really believe in a virgin birth?, Do you truly accept a two ton rock was brushed aside?, Do you sincerely believe Jesus will return and elevate corpses from the ground? Did Noah really collect two of each animal? Did Jesus walk on water? , I believe many would be surprised at the answers.

I expect most would respond with something like, “For god’s sake no, do you think I’m an Idiot?” I believe even if you sat a well quaffed Mitt Romney down in a media free bubble, with a big glass of milk at his side and said, “Now Mitt, tell me the honest to goodness truth, do you really believe golden tablets were delivered to a man in the New York woods or that Jesus will return to Missouri, say, as opposed to New Mexico, deep down in your soul Mitt, do you really, truly believe these things to be true facts of nature, please be honest”. I believe even witless Mitt would say “Heavens know, I’m not that stupid!” or something to that effect. No marginally intelligent, walking, talking, breathing 21st century man could sincerely believe such ridiculous anecdotes. Most intelligent men and women would also deny be they politician, dentist or concert violinist except of course for the most extreme and dangerous fanatics (more about them later). Keep in mind these modern religious people fly in jets, use cellphones, troll the internet, take blood thinners and watch Mars landings – all products of applied science – and for them to assert ancient superstition or even 19th century fairy tales over said science is not only absurd but hypocritical. I still like my idea that such persons be deprived of all that has resulted from the rigorous experiment and controlled testing of lab coated stalwarts. Sorry Dubya, no antibiotics for you!

Wishful Thinking
Sure we’d all like to see Grandma again and have one of those fried chicken picnics or play baseball with our childhood buddies or dance with our favorite girlfriends or whatever our fantasies of heaven may be – maybe even standing in a circle and singing Hosanna to the Almighty. But for eternity – really? – think about that for a minute. I’d get bored with Hosanna’s after about fifteen minutes and believe it or not guys, we’d eventually get bored of drinking beer and watching football, playing golf or even frolicking with beautiful women. Hmmm, Ok, that one might take a while! Nevertheless, eternity is quite a long time. Now I don’t mean to neglect the ladies here – perhaps your heaven might be singin in the rain with Gene Kelly or prowling the French Riviera with Cary Grant or sipping tea and crumpets with your gal pals at an afternoon social – whatever your concept of Nirvana – be you male/ female, gay/ straight, black/white, blue/green, dwarf/giant, animal/vegetable/mineral – infinity is too damn long and after a while we’d turn heaven into hell just to relieve the tedium!

And the idea of an imaginary friend watching over us is very comforting. It’s like when you’re a kid and you’re with your Dad, you feel safe, secure, and invulnerable; that’s a nice way to feel in a cold unfeeling universe. But wishing something doesn’t make it so, in fact all evidence points precisely to the contrary. No one is watching over us, no one cares – this is evident with only the most cursory glance through history. Face it people, I know it’s tough, but it’s time to man/woman up. You got over Santa Claus didn’t you!

Community
I know a lot of people stick to their religions because of the group solidarity it provides. Many people like large gatherings – for good or bad – we’re tribal after all, from the hair on our heads to the tips of our toes, from our hypothalamus to our pulsing aortas, within each strand of our DNA – we’re conjoined in the hive – our team, our religion, our country, our race – this is both our curse and greatest strength. Nor is it going away any time soon. We’re a social species. It feels good to sit in a huge ornately decorated building and sing songs and perform various gyrations or go to a fish fry Fridays or coming-of-age reunions on Saturday afternoons. The good deeds that some in the hive perform are grand and must be promoted – there is nothing wrong with community – it can do great things. So when atheists decry religion in all facets, this fact must be taken into account. Many adhere to organized delusions even when they don’t believe the myths at their core because of the fulfillment that comes from the collective. Rest assured religiosites (my word), in a secular humanist model, gatherings of song and dance, ritual and holiday, game and picnic will all remain even after the superstitions are discarded. And don’t fret, many agnostics love churches, the actual physical structures – these can be marvels of artistry, architecture and human engineering. Benign non-believers would never think of storming the Bastille and causing harm to these amazing monuments. The Sistine Chapel is a majestic symbol of human achievement, constructed through blood sweat and tears, and without the help of any god. The entire race can be proud of such a shrine and even admit that a deluded inspiration could have contributed to its grandiosity. But such delusion isn’t necessary to do great things.

Morality
Many religious folks think that without their holy books all morality would plunge into, er uhhhh what, something worse than it is already? This is a puerile notion that must be opposed, exposed and disclosed for the naive fiction that it is. Forget the fact of the genocide, incest, murder, abuse, tyranny and torture that have flourished under the yoke of the Ten Commandments. In truth, the evidence suggests that moral notions are endemic to the human species – even though we’ve had a tough time following them. At some point in our evolution an inkling of right and wrong developed in our cerebrums and these burgeoning ideas often aided in our survival; such concepts as empathy and compassion took root. There is no need to fabricate an evil dictator in the sky. Every society has a version of the golden rule and all sub directives of a moral life flow from it, simple adage that it is. Our laws must reflect this moral framework – using philosophy and reason as guides – rather than man-made fairy tales. No one ever said it would be easy – especially in its particulars – but a code of law based on our inherent DNA based moral makeup can be perfected in a society of enlightened humans.

Tradition
Just as we’re primitive hunter/gatherer primates at our core, locked into a natural tribalism, we are also prodigious upholders of tradition – however unfortunate such habits of descendancy. Most stick to custom because their parents force fed them and at some point the idea took hold that “if it’s good enough for mommy and daddy, it’s good enough for me”. This demonstrates a fealty to family/tribe regardless of how absurd, ridiculous or counterproductive. This is a very difficult chain to break – hence the rarity of a true rebel. The more we educate our children in the disciplines of reason, rationality and critical thinking, the more likely they’ll discard the negative baggage of the past. If we reject the fairy tales, myths and superstitions, the path of progress and improvement opens before us like the yellow brick road. Let’s make the right choice like Dorothy and her companions. Again, there is nothing wrong with tradition per se and many can and should be kept – like community they make us feel good – but we must get away from sticking to outdated and ludicrous strictures simply because they were passed down from our ancestors. Most of the world’s poisonous religions would be ancient history if more had the courage to break the burdensome chain of tradition.

Conclusion
The Four Horsemen have done us a great service. They have exposed religion to the eye of analysis and have declared with eloquence that not only is it not beyond criticism but in a civilized society its public examination is fundamentally demanded. They have exposed the horror, degradation, murder and rape that religion often fosters, the abuse heaped on children in the name of sanctity, and the extremists for their dangerous ignorance and denial of science. They have followed a rare but proud lineage of free thinkers despite threats and ridicule. We owe them much for reigniting the argument and exposing religion for its many transgressions.

But my contention and I don’t think any of the Horseman would disagree, is that their case thus far, as impressive and damning as it is, is essentially one dimensional. I don’t believe many educated people really believe in the fidelity of scripture – they couldn’t – it’s such a huge mental disconnect – but see the stories as symbolic or figurative allegories. They don’t really believe in virgin births, or dancing tombstones, or talking snakes, or skeletons ascending from the dirt, or the earth appearing in six days or the rapture in Missouri or any of the other man made fantasies that make up the various canons. They don’t see literal belief as required and stick to their guns for other reasons.

We must meld the sensible components into a configuration that lends itself towards a secular humanist worldview. Believers need to know we want only to throw out the bath water not the baby. All those things that give churchgoers good feelings – the community, the monuments, the tradition, the rituals, the songs, the art, the dances, the retreats, the carnivals and the kosher meals – all these things can be preserved and aggrandized. No need to take away the Christmas carols or Easter bunny or Hanukkah candles – all the Gothic theater is great fun – what must be discarded is the literal interpretation of muddled, poorly-translated texts, the imposition of absurdities upon young, innocent children, the denial of science and rationality and most of all the hatred of those who follow a different mythology. All these ancient remnants of our ignorant and fear-plagued tribal days must be expunged. Until these toxic traits are purged from our consciousness – there’s little hope for progress – and terrestrial tyranny will continue. The status quo will only prolong war, disease, poverty and ignorance.

Let the arguments of the New Atheists proceed thus and real headway may be possible. Let’s overcome political entrenchment where each side fights with raised weapons while discarding all reason. We must find a middle ground, a gray area, where we can engage and begin to break the chains that bind us to the inherent barbarism of our species.

As I mentioned previously, these concepts were already entertained in a brief book review. I’ve since searched unsuccessfully for similar discussions in print or the blogosphere; I have therefore felt compelled to expound. My hope is that better minds than my own will take the gauntlet and help flesh out these ideas. We’re at the crossroads of our species (and neither Dorothy nor Robert Johnson can help!); a choice must be made between enlightenment, progress and reason or ignorance, tribalism and fear. I believe passing the torch, relit by the Four Horseman, a task worth pursuing.