We are on the cusp of change. As the era of superstition wanes with the approach of a prevailing consciousness of reason, gods and ghosts fight a losing battle against naturalistic explanations. But the question as to why superstition, unreason, and absolutist mindsets have dominated much of society remains. Perhaps it is because most people follow the religion of their parents. Like a genetically acquired stigma on one’s eyesight, parents prevent their children from seeing the world in its full glory by passing on this virus. The vicious cycle of faith rolls on, quashing reason underfoot.

But now we can throw a wrench into that cycle. By “we” I mean my generation—those who are currently just above or below twenty years of age. It is we who will inherent that brilliance of the scientific method, we who will finally stand up to the ghosts of the past, and we who will carry forth the ignited flame of reason. We are the first generation to enjoy a compounded sentence of life with the sequencing of our genome. We are the first to experience the Large Hadron Collider and the power and potential it beholds. We can experience the wonder and beauty of the macrocosm and the intricacy and complexity of the microcosm.

From one pole to the other, our senses swing in a prevailing storm of wonder. Yet in the gaps between we are faced with those who would wish God into our society. With so much to be in awe of, so much to wonder over, why on Earth (please notice the pun) should we care about a being who is “one but three”? How will knowing how Muhammad drank a glass of water solve the lack of clean water in Muslim African countries? Travailing through the sinuous undergrowth of tortuous theological pap, the easy wonder and beckoning of beauty in the natural world withers into sterility.

No doubt this call to arms is made often. Each generation hopes it will at last overthrow the grips of gods and bring liberty to humankind. I make no such claim. Instead what I propose is awareness and realization. We are at point where we can—not completely but exponentially—severe the ties of superstition. Here’s why I am optimistic.

J.B.S. Haldane famously said: “the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.” Einstein said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” That is, what we can bring to the forefront of our minds is not limited by the immediate environment. We can make ghosts out of curtains and gods out of stars with all the reckoning of a mad wizard because of the power of our
minds. If nothing else, we can appreciate the creativity behind such claims as walking on water, demons in the sand, and winged horses.

All that need occur for us to render religion as the myth it is instead of the “truth” that believers want it to be is to reduce the penchant for acceptance. I do not mean acceptance of the claims but from where they stem—a need to explain life, the cosmos, beauty, and meaning. Those of us who reject religious explanations have found meaning in other things, but it is meaning nonetheless. By accepting that we all are longing for meaning and answers, Yahweh can be seen as simply another creative concept, like Zeus.

People are not stupid to hold such irrational beliefs; they are fulfilling their role in the cycle of unreason. While we are guided by the realization that the cycle works through natural forces, the believers invoke invisible gods pushing that same cycle along. We are both travelling and going forward, but when the cycle breaks down, who is more likely to  know the reason? While we would face and fix the problem, the believers would pray and simply hope things get better.

My generation, those who will be passed the torch from “godless luminaries,” as Richard Dawkins calls them, is in a better position than any to adopt a more assertive approach. How can I be accepting yet strident against belief? I respect people too much to allow irrational beliefs to dominate their lives. I want the members of my generation to bear this in mind as they face a present and future where most of us will not be punished because we do not believe.

We must not squander what the giants of the past have given us. We need to be strident in opposing irrationality for the simple reason that we care about our species. We have science, reason, and the ethics of humanism to achieve a fulfilled life, find meaning, and transmute exclamation points into question marks. My generation has learned that it is not a mark of insanity, pessimism, or distrust to not believe; we know that an attitude of questioning and skepticism is far more satisfying than the backdoor explanations of the faithful.

With this in mind, it is high time that we straighten our backs and walk proudly forward. No, we do not have all the answers and I, for one, would be disheartened if we thought that we did. Answers are full-stops but wonder is an ellipsis. It fills me with hope to keep moving forward, and my generation, those who are the next lot of great scientists, intellectuals, politicians, and human-rights activists, needs to grip the unveiling future with a white-knuckled ferocity. We cannot let the future be pulled from under our feet. We must be stronger and more eloquent in our dismissal of unreason in society, especially when it affects individual lives. We must be less accepting of those who would claim truth in religion, astrology, unproven medical treatments, psychic abilities, divination, and exorcisms.

In this day and age, in a civil society in which parents have let children die because they prayed instead of seeking medical help, we must not be moderate in our approach. When these sorts of parents claim that their child died because “they didn’t have enough faith,” we cannot dismiss it as crackpot and fringe mindsets.

I believe that most human beings are inherently caring, loving, and helpful people and that the religious as well as the nonreligious would be horrified by the actions of such parents. But we must not be passive and tolerant and excuse these actions. No. The need to protect human life takes precedence over the need to be “nice” and accepting of everyone’s beliefs. I urge you, my generation, those who have looked to the luminaries of the past and present—from Nietzsche to Russell, from Sagan to Dawkins—to rise up, armed with the ammunition of knowledge. We can create a better, more beautiful world. But to do that we must be more assertive and not defer to our elders. We must let go of the hands that helped us walk and begin taking our own hard strides into the teeth of superstition and dogma.

It has to happen at some point, and it is better to start right now, while we still have these elders’ support, than later, when they are gone.

Secular Humanist Bulletin Vol. 25, No. 1, Spring 2009