Ushering In An Age of Reason....Or Not.....?

As long as there is suffering, poverty, inequality, and tyranny there will be religion/superstition. For some, reality just isn't acceptable. They need hope for a better place, better than the reality that they live in.I remember my own "conversion" to atheism. At first, I was very frightened by the idea that death was it, the end, the big nap. The idea that no one was looking out for me was also uncomfortable. After awhile, those ideas were actually quite exciting. Perhaps you enjoy the roller coaster a bit more if you know that you will never get another ride?

What atheists are asking for is a government that is guided by empathy and reason, not religious commandments. If the justification for a law is based on Reason then the source of the law doesn't matter. There are many truths to be found in many religious texts, whether it be said by Buddha or Jesus. The divinity of these sources doesn't matter, or at least it shouldn't. What should matter is the reasoning behind these truths.The current debate over gay marriage is a good example (and only an example, there are other threads dealing with the debate over gay marriage). On one side there are those who argue against gay marriage because their religious beliefs compel them to stand against it. There are others who use empathy and reason to arrive at the conclusion that a free person should be able to choose who they marry. In an Age of Reason, no one should be able to quash the rights of others based on Biblical commandments, and yet there it is.