Faith is Dying (Thank God!)

Away From Religion and Toward Common Sense

In 2009, 77% of Americans identified as Christian. Now, about 62% of Americans identify as Christian. Overall, every year there has been a rapid decline in those who are religiously affiliated, not just Christians. Faith is dying in this country and this is one thing we all should be happy about!

The problem with faith is that it is blind, deaf and stupid. It is the idea that you should follow something or believe in something just because you want to, or someone tells you to. For Christians, they have faith that the stories in the Bible are true and that Jesus is real. But, if you’ve read my other articles you know that the stories of the Bible are FICTION, based on Pagan mythology. Jesus is as real as Mickey Mouse.

Faith Destroys Thought, Insight and Growth

Faith tells you not to think for yourself and to blindly follow tradition. It also tells you to trust in authority figures who believe the same things you believe and not trust anyone else. It is my contention that faith is a large part of the reason why our country is in such poor condition.

Christians elected Donald Trump as President. They blindly followed conservative authority figures who told them how to vote without much thought or critical thinking. It’s the same reason they watch Fox News, which is conservatively biased — they were told to. It’s also the same reason they isolate themselves from the rest of the general population, especially non-Christians. The end result: Christians in our country are mostly racist, sexist, xenophobic and homophobic. But if you ask them, they are all convinced that they are living the life God wants them to and they’re doing the right thing.

They’re not!  They’re trampling on the rights of every one else, hogging resources, creating a massive humanitarian crimes and destroying the environment.

A Progression Toward Logic and Critical Thought

The decline in faith suggests to me that people are finally starting to wake up. They are asking questions and demanding proof. When it comes to religion, they are finding that the proof is not there because it doesn’t exist.

I hope that this awakening continues. I hope people lose their faith in not just religion but many other institutions as well. For starters, our country is not a democracy. It is a representative democracy, which means we elect people to represent our voices. But when our representative democracy is only a two party, winner-take-all system, how many voices are not being represented? Most of them!

White, conservative, rich males get their voices heard loud and clear. The American Muslim, or transgendered youth, or poor American and so many others DON’T HAVE ANY REPRESENTATION AT ALL.

NOT A DEMOCRACY!

Most Americans also have faith that the 9/11 Report is real. They believe terrorists attacked the World Trade Center when in fact it was an inside government job (read my book, “While White Men Sleep.”)

Americans also have faith in big corporate brands, like GE and Disney, when in fact those brands are devastating to the environment and don’t seem to be capable of paying their workers a living wage.

You Shouldn’t Have Faith in Anything!

You really shouldn’t have faith in anything! Every part of our lives should be questioned. We should build our lives with a foundation of provable facts and sound reason. We shouldn’t even have faith in one another. People, even our own family members, can behave in truly awful ways. You know what I’m talking about! You shouldn’t blindly trust that anyone will come through for you or behave in a decent way.

Humanity works best when we live in communities where there is a series of checks and balances on all our behavior. We need to be accountable to one another. Accountability makes us all better people. When humans are left to our own devices, we tend to make the more self-serving decision.

So, let’s eliminate faith from our lives. Build your relationships upon things that are real. Believe in things that are real. And don’t be afraid to live in uncertainty. Not knowing the answers to big questions propels us forward toward finding answers to those questions. That’s the path I want to be on. It beats reading a book full of lies or following some idiot who gets his answers from a book of lies.