Why do we humans migrate to a religious explanation of things? What is it about the God concept that has drawn us inexorably along, through all human history? Why are we compelled to ascribe to a God the powers that inform and define our daily lives? Do we really have a God gene? This question can't begin to be explored, much less explained in a simple blog. Thousands upon thousands of books, pamphlets, magazines, speeches, theses and documents are devoted to this too human of questions. Whole libraries are constructed around this single proposition.
But here's one thing that appears true and ageless: We do believe in a power more lofty than our own, an entity that seems to order us in some timeless fashion as our lives unfold, and such things as wisdom and grace are revealed. So here's the real question. If religion is, at it's been speculated to be, a response in human nature designed to protect and benefit the species by raising the value of collective altruistic behavior, then what of those who use religion to separate and divide us? Specifically, why do certain so-called religious individuals seem intent on damaging the thin veneer of human social bonding by demanding the exclusion of certain members? Is this not contrary to the fundamental impulse to gather together that our religious DNA demands? Further, what of those ordained by us to promote and defend the genetic trait of religion found in all of us? What are we to believe when those whom we label 'ministers', individuals sanctioned to ad-minister the genetic guidance our religions provide endorse such exclusionary behaviors? Are they not acting against their own stated sacred oaths and responsibilities? If religion is imprinted in the human soul and mind as a refuge against earthly vicissitudes, are we not obligated to widen our vision, and accept as many of our brethren as possible, in order to strengthen the barrier holding back certain chaos? And for those charlatans who claim that God, any god, hates His own creation, what are we to make of them?
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