If You See Something, Should You Always Say Something

[Gary Childress]

Setting aside historical cases in which those practicing various religions seem to have served a role in the persecution of certain people or even groups of people, there also may arguably be a case to be made that religious practices can bring people together and even offer them reassurance and comfort in our frail and mortal existences. However, in many ways, those reassurances and comforts seem to generally be based, quite often, on beliefs which may lack a great deal of evidence to support them. It raises the question of how important is truth and wisdom if it were the case that those things may interfere with what might otherwise be called joyful foolishness?

I mean, I've spent my entire life outside religious institutions of any kind. Religion and the practice of it has played almost no role in my life outside of bowing my head and pretending to go along with things when I'm asked by others at some sort of gathering such as a funeral. I hesitate to say my life has always been particularly better from a mental health standpoint than that of many people around me who practice religion. I have at times challenged the epistemological foundations of people's religious beliefs. At other times I sort of feel like, if they're happier than I am then maybe I should just leave them to indulge in that which is called "faith".

I guess one thing that tends to set me off quite a bit is the very prevalent claim I witness among many of the faithful that there is some kind of connection between them having faith and some kind of assessment that their life would be so much worse without it, even going to the length of recommending it to others on the allegation that it will help them too. For the most part I don't express any kind of objection (except from time to time in Internet discussions) because I sort of feel like I would be some kind of monster for potentially standing between someone and whatever bliss such irrational thinking might produce.