Life without religion

Last night, I was tiredly driving home alone after a visit with some long-time friends. Usually, I take the highway route home from their house when it's late, but last night I decided to take advantage of a little quiet time alone and I've found that driving is an ideal way to get this. So I took the longer route home. As I was crossing the bridge across the river, I noticed a billboard I'd not seen before. Despite it's being an unlit billboard, I could still make out its message (thanks to the lightposts conservatively spaced every 10 feet apart lining both sides of our new bridge). It said, "Imagine life without religion." Then I caught sight of the name of the organization responsible for the billboard...the Freedom From Religion Foundation. It's a wonder that my Jeep and I didn't end up in the river. I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. It was the first I'd ever heard of such an organization. Sufficiently managing my shocked and suddenly whirling thoughts to keep the Jeep not only on the road, but also headed in the right direction, I drove on. But I could not get these thoughts out of my head, so here I am attempting to make a little sense of them on my blog...

First of all, let me start by saying that after researching the Freedom From Religion Foundation (henceforth referred to as FFRF), my initial suspicions have been confirmed. They are not referring to "Religion" as defined by the following excerpt from Webster's dictionary: "Any objective attended to or pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion." Because this word "religion" would then have to include their own clearly stated zeal for and devotion to promoting nontheism. Atheism, agnosticism, nontheism is their belief system (yes, even THEY have a belief system, because everyone really does). Obviously the purpose of this billboard is not an attempt to get the world to imagine life without nontheism or to imagine life WITH God. So, what then do they mean by "Religion"? Another definition of Religion from the Webster's dictionary is: "The expression of man's belief in and reverence for a superhuman power recognized as the creator and governor of the universe." This must be what they mean when they refer to "Religion". In reading what is contained on their website (article links, the list of lawsuits they have filed, even their FAQ's, etc.), I think it is fair to say that the FFRF's real mission is one that targets the religion of Christianity in particular. The billboard may as well have read: "Imagine life without Christianity." So, my fellow, uh, "freethinkers", let us do just that...

Imagine...
I think I'm getting something...

It's hell. Hell on earth and hell in the afterlife. Hell on earth because we no longer have a superhuman power who created and governs the universe, so man is left to "govern" the best he can on his own. And if my "best" differs from your "best", who wins? Oh, we fight it out? And since we have thrown out God's commands of "thou shalt not kill" and "love your neighbor as yourself" (you see, these are Christian principles and there is no Christianity) then is it now acceptable to go as far as we must (namely, take another's life) to carry our point? And if I see something that I want, then I can simply take it because "thou shalt not steal" is another of God's commands found in the Bible. And if you try to take me to court for taking something that was yours, then I'll probably just tell you, "You can't, because that's not part of my law unto myself and you can't impose your way of life on me. Thank you very much." I mean, where does this end? When we follow the the train of thought all the way out to its natural end, we find lawlessness, anarchy and a world where all people fear for their lives because every man sets his own rules and no one abides by even common-sense laws of life, because they're God-ordained as well. Definitely sounds like hell on earth to me...but, I guess, at least if we want to escape it we can have the "death with dignity" that the FFRF has made a pet mission of as well. But, let me warn you, that will just be the beginning of an eternal hell.

So, go ahead. Imagine life without religion...if you want to.