in reading about the enlightenment, one argument against
“freethinkers” “Spinozist” “Radicals” “Atheist” was that to believe
in such things, was a path to the destruction of civilization,
of the loss in belief in god lead to people being free to commit
acts of violence and destruction and crimes against society because
this “atheism” lead to a loss of values… and this loss meant
people were free to act in any way possible to the determent
of society and yet, it is clear that the continued march in the loss
of belief did not lead to such crisis in society… in fact, if we know our
history, we know that society is safer today, then it was 200 or 300 years ago…
and this loss of belief had no impact on the safety or security of society…
we have less belief cannot be denied and yet, we are demonstrable safer
and more secure today then we were, when belief in god and the bible
was consider essential for the safety and survival of society…
one hears the argument that we must, must believe in the
dogmas of state and society to be able to maintain a safe and secure
society and yet, we have heard this for the last 300 year and it still
hasn’t been shown to be true…we have a America being full of CINO’S
and yet America still hasn’t fallen victim to the violence and insecurity
of lacking respect for the dogmas/myths/habits/prejudices of
America today…in other words, the loss of belief in god and
religion hasn’t degraded America in any noticeable way but the loss
of belief in the American way of life has degraded America…but not
in the anticipated way of the violence and mayhem that was predicted…
but in the crisis of belief that has created a malaise in America and the west…
part of this malaise is from the fact we can’t release the old, harmful beliefs
of the past but we can’t fully accept the new idea’s of the present or future…
we are trapped in a circle of our own making…a circle that cannot be broken
until we release the past and accept the oncoming future…
and part of breaking that circle lies in rejecting the current myths,
habits, prejudices and superstitions of the modern age…
you can’t go into the future until you have released the past…
a child cannot grow into being a teenager and then a young adult,
until he/she grows and learns to adapt to new beliefs and idea’s…
the old idea’s of their being a Santa Claus for example…
and moving past the idea that our parents are the end all, be all
of all knowledge and wisdom…the growth of children into
teenagers and young adults mirrors our growth into releasing
our beliefs in the myths and habits of our time and our
society…
Kropotkin