We Should Probably All Pause To Confront

Today We Often Think That Before We Start Living A Religious Life We Have First To Accept The Creedal Doctrines And That Before One Can Have Any Comprehension Of The Loyalty And Trust Of Faith, One Must First Force One's Mind To Accept A Host Of Incomprehensible Doctrines. But This Is To Put The Cart Before The Horse.

Western Liberal Humanism Is Not Something That Comes Naturally To Us: Like An Appreciation Of Art Or Poetry, It Has To Be Cultivated. Humanism Is Itself A Religion Without God-not All Religions, Of Course, Are Theistic. Our Ethical Secular Ideal Has It's Own Disciplines Of Mind And Heart And Gives People The Means Of Finding Faith In The Ultimate Meaning Of Human Life That Were Once Provided By The More Conventional Religions.

Creation Stories Had Never Been Regarded As Historically Accurate; Their Purpose Was Therapeutic. But Once You Start Reading Genesis As Scientifically Valid, You Have Bad Science And Bad Religion.

When Violence Becomes Imbedded In A Region, Then This Affects Everything. It Affects Your Dreams, Your Fantasies And Relationships, And Your Religion Becomes Violent, Too.

A Gentleman Is Not Born But Crafted. He Had To Work On Himself In The Same Way As A Sculptor Shaped A Rough Stone And Made It A Thing Of Beauty.