Mark Smith June 2004
As a species, we like to be lied to. By nature mankind is optimistic, and optimism (by its very nature) means lying to ourselves that things now, and our chances for the future, are better than they really are. Religions exploit this human tendency for all it's worth. As a survival tactic, this lying to ourselves has worked. After all, people that tend towards the opposite of optimism, i.e. depression, jump off bridges, and thus don't contribute to the gene pool all that much. Hope seems to be a built in component of being human, something that keeps us going even when the odds are against us. Most humans, if thrown into the middle of a hypothetical endless ocean, knowing there is 0% chance of surviving or being rescued, most of us will tread water and cling to hope as long as we can, rather than just inhale a lung-full of water and get the inevitable over with. "Hope springs eternal" as they say, yet hope in this case is lying to the person, telling him to stay afloat just a little longer, maybe help IS on its way. We tend to live our lives as if things will get better in the future, regardless of the day to day evidence. Hope is part and parcel of our very being. Entire industries even exploit and profit from our hope. Las Vegas would be just another dry dusty desert town, were it not for the fact that hopeful people think they can beat the odds, beat the house, strike it rich and live happily ever after. Hopeless people- people that are convinced they can't win, don't gamble. Each year, millions of people flock to Las Vegas, hearts full of hope and wallets stuffed with cash. When they leave, with at least their hope intact, they're itching to come back next year and try again. Las Vegas is lying to people, leading them on to think they can get something for nothing, strike it rich with the roll of the dice, and people- even intelligent ones- don't care. They like the hypnotic "high" feeling of hope so much as they're sitting in front of the slot machines that it overrides their intellect telling them to leave. But some DO leave- some do pay more attention to their intellect than their hearts, but not many. And it may be the same way with Religionists becoming Atheists. Most people will stay in their religion of birth because it offers them hope- it makes them feels nice and warm inside, even those who intellectually know better. But every once in a while, maybe as the result of some cosmic ray knocking a DNA molecule out of place- who knows- but every once in a while a person goes with their intellect in spite of the Matrix of religion having a more appealing false future full of hope, and every once in a while an Atheist is created. And this Atheist knows that when his life is over, that is all there is. And this Atheist knows that when the universe finally dies from "heat death" zillions of years from now, everything will be dead. Pretty hopeless future, eh? But what do we want- the ugly truth, or pretty but false hopes??? It's your decision.
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