Last post I talked about how the 1969 moon landing was more than just another “flashbulb memory“: that it was unique among 20th century significant events. It wasn’t completely novel, as the Russians and us had been to the moon with a dozen unmanned probes over the preceding decade, and the Apollo program after almost a decade of continuous space missions had already circled the moon and even descended toward the surface a bit and done everything but land on the moon.
But it was the most novel of events in the most important way, still the most unique achievement of mankind ever, nearly 45 years later. And unlike other “flashbulb memory” events, it was not unexpected, but planned, and not a tragedy, but a triumph. And not just a triumph of one nations ingenuity and drive but a species wide accomplishment everyone around the world felt they shared in. And it was not done by religion, it was done by science.
Science rules, Religion drools.
Let’s contrast and compare, shall we?
Consider that lovely sign posted above, seen right here in KY, proudly displayed by a member of the religion of love. Touching in its breathtaking outreach to humanity, to all our brothers in Christ. Right.
Seeing this expression of blatant divisiveness and anger might be a novel enough event for it to become a flashbulb moment for a few of you, it certainly is tragic enough.
And here’s the incomparable Sam Harris being painfully honest about the absurdity and divisiveness of religions in general, Xiansanity™ in particular:
And then here’s a short clip and a long clip from the equally articulate Neil deGrasse Tyson about the collective wonder and democratic effort of imagination and true spirit of science, as exemplified by the magic of the first moon landing…
Neil DeGrasse Tyson full blown 1 hour:
But there’s a modern driver missing…empathy. How many billions are spent on foreign aid, local charities, medical research, educational endowments…when did this level of giving start, did Pharoah help the poor, or other nations back then? (not). Did the Victorian era economies have foreign aid, entitlement budgets, Salvation Army buckets, Doctors w/o Borders, research budgets…etc., etc.?? Or is it a function of postwar economies and the widening of our circle of empathy to the whole globe in the 20th Century?
Religion does not unite us. It divides us into us and them, worse than the most extreme of nationalistic tribal fervor as it can create hatred and dehumanization not only among competing religions but within any religion itself between deadly competing sects, arguing over wholly imaginary constructs.
Science unites us as no other human endeavor can. It allows us to extend our already extraordinarily expanded capacity for empathy to total strangers all over the planet.
Instead of being busy figuring out how to condemn those on the other side of the world to hell, science lets us feed them, clothe them, provide them fresh water and freedom from disease.
Science Rules, Religions Drool.
We are One Species. We could be One Tribe. End Religion Now.
(507)
