Journal 3

A society not beholden to religion.  A more perfect place by lessening the shame of everyday life and activities.  My perfect world would be built by starting with only two principles:  Freedom from religion, and seeking out the gifts of science.

Many people will have difficulty accepting either of these principles because they have grown up in a society that welcomes religion and treats science as something that must be greeted skeptically.  This, I think, is a holdover from the time when pseudoscience was a cause for harm and faith was the only thing that we humans had to cling to in this otherwise cruel world.

By starting off with these goals in mind, it quickly follows that education must be the foundation of culture.  Not wrote education, but critical thinking and analysis.  These skills are currently stagnating (along with our society) and as a result, many sub cultures consider it a badge of honor to not be educated to a higher level.  By stimulating intellect and educating as much of the population as possible, not only do we open the doors to greater creativity as a culture, but we open minds to the idea of accepting the HUMAN capacity to take control of our own lives and futures.

The gifts of science and art, when studied, will lead to undeniable progress as human beings strive after the next discovery, the next experiment, and the next great project.  The hunger that we have for finding new and exciting things will keep us moving forward.  The more people that are educated, the more people will hunger for these advances.  With this education and exploration we will find the solutions to problems plaguing our current society:  Hunger, population overgrowth, energy crises, intolerance.  Humans, as they become educated, also become less afraid of this progress and more willing to accept, or at least analyze new ideas.  In this way, religion (the artifact that served out and used up its purpose before the modern age,) will fall by the wayside, and all of the problems associated with it (intolerance, bigotry, and ironically enough fear of the unknown) will vanish as we explore the new and exciting possibilities for our species with open arms.

Howard