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Rainbows... and religion.

Rainbows - nothing screams God more than a beautiful rainbow on a warm spring day - or does it? You would be hard pressed to find someone that argued that rainbows weren't beautiful. But do they show the existence of God or a god? Many a religious person has told me about the miracle that is a rainbow and how they are here to show us God's presence in the world.

I would like to use them to show the usefulness of science over religion. It's a great thing to say that God created a rainbow - and perhaps I'm wrong and he did. But what does that get us? It says that some being that we can't see painted something across the sky at a whim - just for the heck of it. That's fine and dandy - but again how does thinking that help us? Science can explain in explicit details the entire phenomenon of the rainbow. Using that we can create our own or also predict when another will occur. It does not in any way limit the amazement that I still see every time I look up at the sky and see a rainbow. Yes, I know it's light reflecting off droplets of water in the sky. Thanks to a little phrase (roygbiv) I learned in school I can tell you exactly the order of the colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) you will see.

This is what science can give us. Students can create a rainbow at their desk in class using a prism. If we ignore science and follow religion exclusively we'd never know this. The two can exist side by side - but it does no good to teach religion in a science class. Science can be tested - and proven wrong. That is a failure of faith by definition. I'm not against religion by itself. It just needs to be kept out of the science classroom. This entire argument can be carried over to many religion/science arguments. Science isn't a religion - it doesn't involve faith to believe it. It involved testing and proving your ideas. Science can change it's ideas - religion doesn't allow for this.

Science can predict what's going to happen next. We might not be explaining everything exactly as it is but at least we have an idea for what should be happening next - or why it happened that way in the first place. Religion doesn't give that information. We just hear that God wanted it that way and so it happened. That may help you deal with a bad situation but it doesn't tell you why a rainbow forms. It doesn't explain why you should have your brakes checked on your car so you can stop. Science explains how the brakes work and can also explain why they fail. Telling the person you just rear ended that God wanted you to hit them doesn't really help you, does it?

Patrioism

So I was going somewhere the other day and I started to think about the Bush years and all the things that have been told were bad. Basically we were told to not question the government or we are unpatriotic. This angers me. What good is freedom if the government can just do whatever it wants to do? Now I should back up a little. I'm not a fan of conspiracies. I don't think the government is out to get all of us. But I do believe it's good to ask questions.

How is asking a question being unpatriotic? Using the freedoms that many people have fought and died for is the most patriotic you can do. The soldiers fighting around the world are fighting for my right to question things and also to protest what does not seem right to me. To not do this is doing these soldiers a disservice. The soldiers doing their jobs do deserve our utmost respect, though. They are putting their lives on the line and not earning anywhere near what they deserve for doing it. To take away any freedom they are fighting for is as bad as kicking them in the face.

One of the most obvious examples of a freedom many have attempted to limit is the idea that you can't burn the American flag. The flag itself stands for the right to burn it. This again is something that soldiers have fought for over the years, maybe not directly, but it's a freedom that's always been there and should always be there. The flag is a symbol - nothing more. Burning it does not take away any rights or directly harm anyone. While I wouldn't personally burn a flag - I'm not against someone else doing it.

This made me think of a bit Penn and Teller did on their Showtime series - and also on The West Wing. In this video they burn a flag to prove the point that the country is still here and our rights are still there. The burning of the flag didn't destroy anything. But I'll just post the video - Penn explains himself better than I ever could.

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF2iX2VG6e4

There really isn't anything more I can add to what Penn says.

The bad boss...

Let's imagine you have a job you tolerate. The boss demands a lot and gives very little in return. If anything goes right he gets full credit. If something goes wrong, though, the blame is on someone else for not believing fully in the idea. This hypothetical boss makes many promises that he will reward you for following his every command, but if you question him you will be fired - there is no room for debate. With only a few exceptions, his past has shown him to be quite brutal in his treatment of workers. At one point he hired his son, and used him as an example to all those that would not follow him blindly. His son did his best to please him. He did everything asked of him and followed every rule. But in the end, he was also fired in a unkind way.

Many workers still remain and follow the boss, hoping for the promised future. Many were fired for not following some little rule. New ones were hired and the business just kept going. This boss stays the same throughout these changes, never wavering. Follow him exactly or you will be out. The job doesn't pay well, but the promises for the future are so great that many stick around to see it through.

How long could you stay in this job? Could you work for a boss that takes credit for everything good, but never takes responsibility for things that go wrong? Would you expect anyone else to do the same?

Now lets change this from a business to something larger - religion. Why do people feel the need to blindly follow a god that will punish them for questioning him? Good people or bad people, it doesn't matter as long as you don't question anything you'll be fine. I'm not a religious person but if I were I'd have a hard time accepting a god that I wasn't allowed to question. The boss in my hypothetical story would most likely be overthrown or fired for that behavior but for some reason God gets free reign.

This grew out of a conversation I had a few months ago with a man I respect greatly. Somehow the topic of religion came up and I was told that just doing good things and helping people would not be enough to get me to heaven if it did exist. I would have to blindly accept God and Jesus into my life or else I would be doomed eternally. I am a good person. If someone needs help with something I will help them in any way possible. I don't lie, cheat, or steal. I work for what I have and will share whatever I can. If I am wronged I do not get revenge, instead I do my best to turn the other cheek and move on from there. I'm not perfect in any way shape or form, but I do attempt to treat everyone as I would like to be treated.

Although, I am good in these ways, I was told that I would still be going to hell because I haven't accepted God into my life. How can someone feel good about following this God? God doesn't go out of his way to show us that he is real. Only when things go well do we "feel" his presence. When we hit rough spots in life it's because WE have strayed from HIS path. God is sitting in a pretty good position. He can do anything he wants and we have to accept it or be threatened with the fires of hell for all eternity. Just doing good work is not enough, either.

Both my parents are Christian and I was raised as a Christian. I was also raised to question how the world works and how I can make it better. The older I get the more wonder I have with the world. We live in an amazing place. I don't need a god to express that wonder. Nature always amazes me with it beauty and humans always amaze me with their ingenuity. God isn't needed for me to see this wonder - and it's all even more amazing once you are able to see it without having to look through god's eyes.