Reflections on this Easter

I am amazed how many people believe if you have faith in a God you can’t see, or prove to be, then you have a closed mind ruled by superstition.  These same people profess to be open to new ideas, and believe themselves to be progressive in their views on how mankind can flourish, if only they weren’t held back by the superstitious believers.

Who really has a closed mind here?  The ones who profess their faith, or the ones critical of those who don’t believe as they do?

I acknowledge there are those who use religion as a shield to justify their human failings like ambition, greed, jealousy or hate.  This is true whether you are Christian, Jew or Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist, Spiritualist or Scientologist, Pagan or Druid, Agnostic or Atheist.  When you seek to force your values, or lack of, on others you violate one of the basic tenants of a free society, the right of self-determination.  When you demean the views of others the question can only be, to what end?

I wonder, would we be a better world without our beliefs?  After much consideration I don’t think so.  They set the framework for hope, and a future beyond the problems we face each day.  When our country was established it was by men and woman escaping the persecution of their beliefs by a religion that controlled the state.  How strange now, a little over two hundred years later, that religious belief is being attacked by the state as it seeks greater control of our lives.