Rendering unto Caesar: The Terrorism of Superstition

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

There are people who contend that politics and superstition should be separated. Certainly, the world would be a better place if superstitious people simply went about their own personal affairs and stopped meddling in the private lives of their neighbors, but that's not going to happen anytime soon. The superstitious are terrified that if they don't terrorize their neighbors, they will suffer for eternity.

Some will argue that the Constitution guarantees the right of people to be superstitious, but that's no reason to appease their superstitions. It is one thing for the superstitious to terrorize their own children and quite a different matter for them to terrorize their neighbors. They even go so far as having their children terrorize the neighbor kids. This kind of conduct is vicious and brutal.

Superstition belongs to Caesar. It enslaves an entire population in a mental prison of fear and ignorance. People who reject superstition cannot ignore the cruelty of the superstitious.

What do you do to shelter your loved ones from the rabid terrorism of superstition?

Comments

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Okay, here are some definitions:

God: Invisible, omniscient "something" that has control over everything, sees everything, and knows everything... but refuses to make his existence obvious. Often given human-like characteristics in descriptions. Is either very picky and judgmental, or very forgiving, depending on who you ask.
Also see: Gods

Gods: A lot of beings with powers far beyond those of mortals. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Capable of smiting you with lightning bolts from the top of Mount Olympus. Ferries souls to the land of the dead. Rules over the cycles of the moon and sun. Often given human-like features.

Soul: That thing that nobody can even quite define, but religious folks are SO SURE it exists, despite an absolute lack of evidence. You can't see your soul, touch it, feel it, measure it, or detect it in any way, but they tell us it exists! Kinda like God's "Mini-Me" inside us all. And if you value your soul (and for some people, it's all they've got, because they're so otherwise miserable), you have to keep your soul "clean." (Do they make detergent for that?)

Heaven: The place where your immortal "soul" goes if you behave yourself.

Hell: It's like a lake of fire, but it's frozen over, and you live in abject suffering and misery after you die for all eternity because the loving God up in Heaven disapproves of your behavior. (Irony is intentional here.)

There. THOSE are some made-up definitions. People from ancient times had no better explanations for natural phenomena, so they MADE UP STORIES and created words and definitions to explain away things they didn't understand. And here we are today, still believing those things! It wasn't true then, and it's not true now, but in our modern day, we have NO EXCUSE.

[pastorlenny.livejournal.com]

What does this have to do with the question you were asked?