Published in the Adelaide Advertiser 7.10.15 — link to online version; 8th letter.
Dear Letters Editor,
John Kelly laments a lack of respect for religion and believes the non-religious are irrational (The Advertiser, 6/10/15).
He misses the crucial point that in all progressive nations — where reason and critical thinking is encouraged — religion is in sharp decline. According to Morgan Research, Australia is now more than 50 percent non-Christian.
Neuroscience has long explained how all religions — from the earliest civilisations — have manipulated our innate survival and social mechanisms to believe in supernatural creators (there are many to choose from). John would do well to read the science and consider it; rationally.
That said, religious freedom is guaranteed under international charters adopted by the UN. But so too are the rights of the non-religious and atheists, under those same protocols.
So believe what you wish; as a personal and private faith! But for those who choose not to worship gods, we have an equal ‘right’ to challenge — with science or humour — the fundamental flaws of religion.
And that includes the public and politicised mantras of all three Abrahamic faiths — with dogmas that divide and damage so many people and cultures worldwide.
Brian Morris
Plain Reason
Plain Reason: promoting science, reason, and critical thinking