God and the Brain

Is Belief a Psychological Condition?
A collection of great articles on the subject.

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Synopsis: Findings seem to point to a region of the brain commonly referred to as the 'God Spot' or 'God Module', that when stimulated creates hallucinations that are interpreted as mystical or spiritual experiences. This 'spot' is stimulated during meditation and prayer and is affected by electromagnetic fields and epilepsy. The resulting hallucinations may be the cause of mystical, spiritual and paranormal experiences as they can give feelings such as a presence in the room or an out of body experience. In the case of epileptics, this may be the reason for many of them becoming obsessed with religion. For those who experience the stimulation it is explained related to their own personal beliefs; a visit from an angel or lost loved one, an extraterrestrial encounter, a higher plane of consciousness or a visit from God.

But what about Atheists? If the research is correct and a "God module" exists, then it might suggest that individuals who are atheists could have a differently configured neural circuit. I suppose this would apply to Agnostics, as well. But, some of this and some of that instead of all or nothing. ~ BlogHer

Tell me I'm not hallucinating ... if we both see a large brain
riding on the back of a car, then I'm OK and you're OK.

flickr brains

* Atheist David Sloan Wilson & Evolutionary Theory

The Huffington Post
Atheism as a Stealth Religion (series of 6 postings)
David Sloan Wilson

"In today's polarized world, the conflict between atheism and religion is shaping up to be the fight of the century. In this corner, the new atheists, flexing their muscles with books such as God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. In that corner, the religious fundamentalists, who are responsible for 9/11, the Christian takeover of America, polluting the minds of their children, and numberless other atrocities. It's science and reason against dogmatism and blind faith, making it obvious who the enlightened liberal should root for.

"Well, not quite. The truly enlightened liberal should experience a twinge of doubt about the very blackness and whiteness of it. Let me show you how a bit of evolutionary thinking can paint a more interesting picture in shades of gray."

Stealth II: Let's Get Real
Stealth III: Four Questions and Six Possible Answers
Stealth IV: The Transformation of the Obvious
Stealth V: Ineffective, Silly, and Worse

Watch for Wilson's Stealth VI as his final installment in this series.

David Sloan Wilson

"uses evolutionary theory to explain all aspects of humanity in addition to the rest of life, as he recounts for a general audience in Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin´s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives (Bantam 2007). He is a distinguished professor of biology and anthropology at Binghamton University, part of the State University of New York. He publishes in anthropology, psychology, and philosophy journals in addition to his mainstream biological research."

Wilson's Website, Evolutionary Religious Studies

Cleric Urges a Science and Religion Dialogue

by CORNELIA DEAN
January 31, 2008

"Increasingly vocal hostility of some religions to science, and some scientists to religion, the president of the United Church of Christ has appealed for both groups to communicate more openly and to recognize, as he put it, that each has something to contribute to the other.

"Faith is not a matter of “clinging to ancient misconceptions,” the leader, the Rev. John H. Thomas, wrote Tuesday in a letter to the church’s 1.2 million adherents, in 5,700 American congregations. “Today one of God’s most provocative voices is science.” Read more ...

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST EMBRACING EVOLUTION: "A New Voice Arising" (PDF)

National Center for Science Education

Also see: On Darwin's Birthday, Dover Still Isn't Over

*Prof. D. Showley said, "A bright note of sanity in the murky night of madness that is descending on us." Thanks for the article, Dee.

* Charles Darwin, Agnostic

Born on this day, 12 February 1809 - 19 April 1882

"What my own views may be is a question of no consequence to any one but myself. But, as you ask, I may state that my judgment often fluctuates. … In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an Atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God. I think that generally (and more and more as I grow older), but not always, that an Agnostic would be the more correct description of my state of mind."

"I cannot pretend to throw the least light on such abstruse problems. The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an Agnostic."

The Edge Annual Question — 2008 When thinking changes your mind, that's philosophy. When God changes your mind, that's faith. When facts change your mind, that's science. WHAT HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT? WHY? Science is based on evidence. What happens when the data change? How have scientific findings or arguments changed your mind?"

"Fantastically stimulating...It's like the crack cocaine of the thinking world.... Once you start, you can't stop thinking about that question." — BBC Radio 4 (2005)

THE TIMES
January 1, 2008

Science has second thoughts about life
Even the world’s best brains have to admit to being wrong sometimes: here, leading scientists respond to a new year challenge

Lewis Smith, Science Reporter

The new year is traditionally a time when people tend to look back and try to work out where it all went wrong – and how to get it right in the future.

The new year is traditionally a time when people tend to look back and try to work out where it all went wrong – and how to get it right in the future.

This time the Edge Foundation asked a number of leading scientists and thinkers why they had changed their minds on some of the pivotal issues in their fields. The foundation, a chat forum for intellectuals, posed the question: “When thinking changes your mind, that’s philosophy. When God changes your mind, that’s faith. When facts change your mind, that’s science. What have you changed your mind about? Why?”

The group’s responses covered controversial issues, including climate change, whether God or souls exist and defining when humanity began.

This time the Edge Foundation asked a number of leading scientists and thinkers why they had changed their minds on some of the pivotal issues in their fields. The foundation, a chat forum for intellectuals, posed the question: “When thinking changes your mind, that’s philosophy. When God changes your mind, that’s faith. When facts change your mind, that’s science. What have you changed your mind about? Why?”

The group’s responses covered controversial issues, including climate change, whether God or souls exist and defining when humanity began.

---

"The Edge 2008 question (with answers) is in. This year, the question is: 'What did you change your mind about and why?'. Answers are featured from scientists as diverse as Richard Dawkins, Simon Baron-Cohen, George Church, David Brin, J. Craig Venter and the Astronomer Royal, Lord Martin Rees, among others. Very interesting to read. For instance, Stewart Brand writes that he now realizes that 'Good old stuff sucks' and Sam Harris has decided that 'Mother Nature is Not Our Friend.' What did Slashdot readers change their minds about in 2007?"

Religion, Secularism & Politics in the Twenty-First Century

Join the world’s most distinguished defenders of science and secularism!

The 2007 Conference of the Center for Inquiry-New York City will take place at the New York Academy of Sciences at 7 World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan, overlooking the World Trade Center site and contruction site of the Freedom Tower. Renowned speakers, scholars, and media personalities will meet to discuss the future of reason and secularism in an America and a world increasingly divided by religion.

Themes include:

• The Age of American Unreason
• The Next Islamic Enlightenment
• Science and the Public
• Student Freethinkers Speak Out
• Secularism through History: from Spinoza to JFK
• VIP Reception and Awards Presentation (with the International Academy of Humanism)

Speakers & Presenters include:

Christopher Hitchens	Alan Dershowitz	Neil deGrasse Tyson	Peter Singer
Wendy Kaminer	Paul Kurtz	Ann Druyan	Nat Hentoff
Susan Jacoby	Eugenie C. Scott	Victor Stenger

A Time of Challenge and Opportunity

The world is finally waking up to the dangers of religious faith. Books defending reason and religious skepticism top the bestseller lists. Secular Muslims are standing up for freedom of thought. The secular perspective has finally gained currency in the media and in cross-cultural dialogue. Young freethinkers and secularists are organizing and speaking out on campuses, ready to carry the torch of secularism into the new millennium.

Yet religious fervor in the United States and abroad remains at an all-time high. Science education suffers from the constant onslaught of creationist activists. Democratic politicians have joined Republicans in pandering to religious prejudices. The American courts are stacked with judges who openly denigrate the nation’s vital and historic separation of church and state. Islamic radicalism is on the rise in Europe as well as in the Middle East. In many ways, societies the world over face the ominous threat of de-secularization.

How do we seize this moment of opportunity to address secularism’s many challenges? How can secularists build a lasting movement? What political and rhetorical strategies should the reality-based community employ? Does vocal criticism of religion help or hinder the cause of secularism? Hear the thoughts of the world’s leading minds on these and many other questions.

* The Jesus Project ~ Update

Follow up to METAXY

New are two articles about the project at the Council for Secular Humanism:

R. Joseph Hoffmann is the chair of the Committee for the Scientific
Examination of Religion, Senior Vice President of Academic and Educational Programs for CFI, and an associate editor of Free Inquiry.

Tom Flynn, editor of FREE INQUIRY

Center for Inquiry

Website: The Jesus Project

Also see the JesusMysteries discussion forum.

* At Heaven's Gate? Out of Body or Out of Mind?

The near-death/out of body experience has been common since ancient times. Many people attach an out-of-this world meaning, e.g., that they are previewing "heaven." Science is discovering explanations for the phenomenon and can duplicate the experience. Notable is that the experience crosses all religions and, as well, by those who disbelieve in an afterlife.

Near Death Experience
by Timothy Moore
Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology

It appears that, rather than any spiritual journey or other world phenomenon, NDEs may be best understood by examining human physiology, neurochemistry, and psychology. At this time, there is strong research evidence to indicate that many of the symptoms of NDEs may be caused by anoxia, or a lack of oxygen to the brain. In the human visual system, for example, neurons (brain cells) deprived of oxygen will start to fire out of control. Since the majority of the cells in our visual cortex (the portion of the brain where visual information is processed) respond to stimulation in the central visual field, the result is a white spot in the center with fewer cells firing out of control in the periphery. As oxygen deprivation continues, the white spot grows and the sensation of moving through a tunnel toward a white light is produced. Similarly, it is possible that the life review process is a result of depriving the temporal lobes of oxygen. When the temporal lobes of the brain, an area largely involved in memory production, are deprived of oxygen, neurotransmitters are released and massive electrical activity ensues. In laboratory research, when people's temporal lobes are stimulated with electrodes, many subjects experience the reliving of memories, out of body experiences, and even the sensation of moving through a tunnel toward a light. Oxygen deprivation can also affect the limbic system, which contains the seat of emotions in the brain. The intensely pleasurable feelings of love and well-being that accompany moving toward the light may therefore be a consequence of increased activity in the limbic system.

Using Ketamine to Induce the Near-Death Experience: Mechanism of Action and Therapeutic Potential
by Dr. Karl L. R. Jansen,
Psychiatrist

Near-Death Experiences: In or out of the body? by Susan Blackmore

Image from Wikipedia

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.

Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642)

Wikipedia

~ David Sloan Wilson Discusses Richard Dawkins' Theory of Religion

Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion has been a runaway bestseller and garnered much attention for his passionate plea for atheists to stand up and be heard. But there is so much more in that book about religion that has drawn considerably less attention, most notably his theory on the evolutionary origins and development of religion, which is a technical field of study among a small band of scientists, one of whom, evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson, has penned the following analysis of Dawkins’ theory of religion, which he feels is wide of the mark based on the evidence.

Wilson is the author of Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior, Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society, and his latest book, Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives.

David Sloan Wilson is a Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Biology and Anthropology, Binghamton University.

— Michael Shermer

* Descent or Ascent?

The Descent of the Modernists," by E. J. Pace, first appearing in his book Christian Cartoons, published in 1922.

Modernism--beginning around 1890--is a trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, and is thus in its essence both progressive and optimistic. The term covers many political, cultural and artistic movements rooted in the changes in Western society at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century.

Modernism encouraged the re-examination of every aspect of existence, from commerce to philosophy, with the goal of finding that which was "holding back" progress, and replacing it with new, progressive and therefore better, ways of reaching the same end. In essence, the modernist movement argued that the new realities of the industrial and mechanized age were permanent and imminent, and that people should adapt their world view to accept that the new equaled the good, the true and the beautiful.

Articles
The Modernist Journal Project

* What is a Christian: God, Faith and Hard Science

"Religion and science have clashed forever, but in America, the biggest showdown came in 1925, when evolution and creationism did battle in the Scopes Monkey Trial, and evolution won. Now, nearly a hundred years later, the scientific community is convinced human beings evolved from a common ancestor over millions of years. But guess what? The rest of the public isn't on board. In fact, polls show nearly half of us believe we were created by God, just as we are. This battle is hardly over." ~ Anderson Cooper, CNN

Aired April 6, 2007, Transcript

* "God: The Failed Hypothesis" by Victor Stenger

New book announcement from the Center for Inquiry

The latest success in an "atheist literary wave" is God: The Failed Hypothesis, Prometheus Books, in which Victor Stenger--a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and a research fellow of the Center for Inquiry--argues that science has advanced sufficiently to make a definitive statement on the existence or nonexistence of the traditional Judeo-Christian-Islamic God.

After evaluating all the scientific evidence, Stenger concludes that beyond a reasonable doubt the universe and life appear exactly as we might expect if there were no God. He convincingly shows that not only is there no evidence for the existence of God, but scientific observations actually point to his nonexistence. Stenger invites readers to put their minds--and the scientific method--to work to test this claim.

Bestselling authors Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris have praised God: The Failed Hypothesis:

"Marshaling converging arguments from physics, astronomy, biology, and philosophy, Stenger has delivered a masterful blow in defense of reason. God: The Failed Hypothesis is a potent, readable, and well-timed assault upon religious delusion. It should be widely read." ~ Sam Harris, author of the New York Times best sellers The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation

"I learned an enormous amount from this splendid book." ~ Richard Dawkins, author of the New York Times best seller The God Delusion

* The Originator of the Light of the World Born this Day ~ Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison, February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931, American inventor and businessman

~ God? God? A Supreme Being, sitting on a throne and commending human individuals to eternal peace or condemning them to everlasting punishment for what they have achieved or failed to do upon this earth? The thought to me seems as abhorrent as fallacious.

From "Edison the Atheist," Frank Zindler, American Atheists

American Atheists
Editor’s Desk
by Frank R. Zindler
Winter 2000, 2001

"The role played by Atheists and Freethinkers in American history is a well-kept secret, thanks in part to the disinformation war waged relentlessly by the religious right in its effort to prove that America is - and always has been - a Christian nation. The fact that many of the most important of America’s Founding Fathers were Deists is smothered by the fictional melodrama of George Washington praying in the snow at Valley Forge. The Atheist or Agnostic Abraham Lincoln has been recreated as a Christian (even the Mormons have claimed him) and Christians take credit for the abolition of slavery - the Bible-based institution they created and fought so hard to preserve.

"It is a delight, therefore, to be able to reprint in this issue of American Atheist two interviews on religion granted by Thomas Alva Edison [1847-1931] several decades before his death. This great man, whose inventions so quintessentially made the twentieth century what it was, is not generally known to have been an Atheist. Religious revisionists have erased his name from the monuments marking the contributions of Freethinkers to America’s history and heritage.

"Edison had no patience with the idea of a personal god ...

* From "Edison the Atheist" Edison the Atheist
* Interview 1: "No Immortality of the Soul"
* Interview 2: Thomas A. Edison on Immortality

~ There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the real labor of thinking.

Thomas Edison, the placard in all of Edison works, according to Joseph Lewis in "A Visit with Thomas Alva Edison"

~ I do not believe that any type of religion should ever be introduced into the public schools of the United States.

Thomas Edison, "Do We Live Again?" Positive Atheism

~ The great trouble is that the preachers get the children from six to seven years of age and then it is almost impossible to do anything with them.

Thomas Edison, quoted by Joseph Lewis from a personal conversation: "A Visit with Thomas Alva Edison"

~ Incurably religious, that is the best way to describe the mental condition of so many people.

Thomas Edison, quoted by Joseph Lewis from a personal conversation, in "A Visit with Thomas Alva Edison"

~ I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious theories of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God.

Thomas Edison, Frank Zindler, American Atheists

~ I do not believe in the God of the theologians; but that there is a Supreme Intelligence I do not doubt.

Thomas Edison, quoted from Thomas S Vernon, "Thomas Alva Edison", Positive Atheism

"Edison rejected three fundamental tenets of Christianity: the divinity of Christ, a personal God, and immortality."
See also ...
Freedom From Religion Foundation
About.com

* God and Gorillas ~ Because We've Evolved to Relate to Each Other We Think and Feel that We are in Relationship with Something Larger

God and Gorillas

by Steve Paulson
Salon.com
January 31, 2007

Anthropologist Barbara J. King explains what our distant cousins can tell us about religion and why it's OK for scientists to believe in God.

[Brief overview] "For the last two decades, King has studied ape and monkey behavior in Gabon and Kenya, and at the Smithsonian's National Zoo. In her new book, Evolving God: A Provocative View on the Origins of Religion," King argues that religion is rooted in our social and emotional connections with each other. What's more, we can trace back the origins of our religious impulse not just to early cave paintings and burial sites 20,000 to 40,000 years ago, but much earlier -- back to our ancient ancestors millions of years ago. And today, King says, we can see the foundations of religious behavior in chimpanzees and gorillas; watching our distant cousins can do much to explain the foundations of our own beliefs."

Barbara J. King, an anthropologist at the College of William and Mary, is not out to to undermine religion or to say that apes are religious. She presents with an agnostic position as to the existence of god(s).

She says it is "the emotional connection to that transcendent realm is what I'm looking for, rather than a mental or rational formulating of beliefs about such a realm. A word that's so important to me is 'embodied.' It's an embodied religion. Religion is based in our senses, in our emotions."

King shows in the behavior of apes how religion evolved, "I look at four different kinds of behavior -- meaning-making, imagination, empathy and following the rules. Together, I think they give us a sense of what religion might have started out to be. The apes have bits and pieces of all these four things, but not in a coherent pattern that adds up to religious behavior. To my mind, apes are conscious beings and they do these four things in incredibly fascinating ways.

"I see them really transforming each other as they act. The smallest gesture or eye gaze can cause one ape to shift its behavior toward the other, until they converge on a shared action or maybe decide to avoid each other. That's what I call meaning-making."

..."I think we have evolved to believe in transcendent realities. What we're about as a group of humans on this earth is believing that there's something more than us. It takes many different forms. I don't know that I'd focus on a single transcendent reality. I would say that because we're made to relate, we think and feel that we're in relationship with something bigger ... [my stance] is about 'agnosis'; that means not knowing. That's where I would like to leave that question. But we as human beings have gotten to this certain place because of our evolutionary history."

flickr image

* Religion is Overruled in Favor of Women's Health Needs ~ Making Progress

Texas Is First to Require Cancer Shots for Schoolgirls

by Ralph Blumenthal
February 3, 2007

HOUSTON, Feb. 2 — "Texas on Friday became the first state to require all 11- and 12-year-old girls entering the sixth grade to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

"Averting a potentially divisive debate in the Legislature, Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, signed an executive order mandating shots of the Merck vaccine Gardasil as protection against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, starting in September 2008.

"Mr. Perry’s action, praised by health advocates, caught many by surprise in a largely conservative state where sexual politics is often a battleground. ... Some parents have voiced concern that the plan could send a message that sexual activity was condoned or that vaccinations made it safe. On the whole, however, conservative and religious groups have not come out strongly against the vaccinations as long as families can opt out."

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

* Mark Twain, 1835-1910 ~ A Bitter Critic of Religion

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), "better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, writer, and lecturer. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." He is also known for his fascination with science and his quotations.

Faith is believing something you know ain’t so. ~ Following the Equator, Ch. 12

Man is a marvelous curiosity . . . he thinks he is the Creator's pet . . . he even believes the Creator loves him; has a passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to him and thinks He listens. Isn't it a quaint idea. Letters from the Earth, 1909

Twain falls into the 'ambiguous' category regarding belief in gods but he was highly critical of organized religion. He did, however, maintain that the Presbyterian church, his childhood religion, was safe.

"In later years, Twain's family suppressed some of his work which was especially irreverent toward conventional religion, notably Letters from the Earth, which was not published until 1962. The anti-religious The Mysterious Stranger was published in 1916, although there is some scholarly debate as to whether Twain actually wrote the most familiar version of this story. Twain was critical of organized religion and certain elements of the Christian religion through most of the end of his life, though he never renounced Presbyterianism." Wikipedia

See also METAXY

* The New Messiah ~ Look for His Face in the Guacamole on Your Taco, Mummify it, and Make a Fortune at eBay

flickr

The Sun, UK

Cruise 'is Christ' of Scientology

by Emily Smith,
US Editor
January 23, 2007

"Tom Cruise is the new 'Christ' of Scientology, according to leaders of the cult-like religion.

"The Mission: Impossible star has been told he has been 'chosen' to spread the word of his faith throughout the world.

"And leader David Miscavige believes that in future, Cruise, 44, will be worshipped like Jesus for his work to raise awareness of the religion.

"A source close to the actor, who has risen to one of the church’s top levels, said: “Tom has been told he is Scientology’s Christ-like figure.

“'Like Christ, he’s been criticised for his views. But future generations will realise he was right.'

"Cruise joined the Church of Scientology in the ’80s. Leader L Ron Hubbard claimed humans bear traces of an ancient alien civilisation."

Los Angeles Times: The Scientology Story

* Jesus is Coming Soon? Science is Betting Against Doomsday ~ Peace on Earth

The end of the world is coming ... ?

Chicago Sun-Times

January 5, 2007
by Cathleen Falsani,
Religion Writer

"If poll results released this week are accurate, a quarter of you think it's at least somewhat likely that Jesus Christ will return to Earth this year.

The same Associated Press/AOL News poll showed 46 percent of white evangelical Christians, 17 percent of Roman Catholics and 10 percent of those who described themselves as "nonreligious" believe Christ's return will occur in 2007."

Post Tribulation Rapture

"In Christian eschatology, the Post Tribulation Rapture doctrine is the belief in a combined Resurrection and Rapture (e.g., Resurrection-Rapture) of all believers coming after the Great Tribulation."


FYI, there is an actual Rapture Ready Message Board.

If the Christian god exists then why doesn’t he just send his afterlife lovers directly to heaven instead of giving them a stopover in a world they hate? It seems like such a huge waste of time and a pain in the arse to the rest of us. Just saying.


Peace on Earth
New York Times

by John Tierney
January 30, 2007

"Why bet against doomsday? I give a few reasons in my "Findings" column today (about my wager against a prophet of doom, Martin Rees). If you’d like more cause for cheer, take a look at Edge, the Web site dedicated to a “third culture” bridging the gap between scientists and other intellectuals.

"It recently asked some of the world’s savviest thinkers what they’re optimistic about. Besides waxing about the technological breakthroughs they’re expecting, they point to a heartening development you’d never guess from the headlines: Even though our weapons keep getting deadlier, more people are living in peace.

"The decline of violence is “the most important and under appreciated trend in the history of our species,” writes Steven Pinker, a psychologist at Harvard and the author of The Blank Slate ...”

“Hard as it may be to believe,” notes John Horgan in Edge, “humanity has become much less violent than it used to be. In fact civilization, far from creating the problem of warfare, is apparently helping us to solve it.”

* Heretic Tames God's Wrath to the Chagrin of Pious Believers ~ Benjamin Franklin, 1706 - 1790

Until the mid-1700's lightning was considered a punishment of sinners by God. When infidel Benjamin Franklin (Deist) invented the lightning rod he was assailed bitterly by Christians everywhere for robbing God of his judgment of sinners.

"Few of us today can fully realize the mental night that darkened the world in Franklin's time. Witchcraft was everywhere dominant. Every conceivable superstition held sway over the minds of the people. The most horrible crimes were committed in the name of religion. Cotton and Increase Mather were the intellects who ruled. And although the great souls who lived before Franklin had broken to some degree the tyrannical power of priest and king, and here and there the monsters of religion had been driven from the face of the earth, the winds, the rain, the storm, the sunshine and the seasons were still believed to be the caprices of God. And even though you were not burned at the stake for disbelieving the inspiration of the Bible, the wrath of God would yet fall upon you at Judgment Day. The cringing mass was awed into submission by warnings from above. Was not thunder the voice of God: and did not lightning reveal his anger and strike many dead?

"But in 1752, on the banks of the Schuylkill River, came one of the most significant triumphs for the liberation of man [and woman]. Benjamin Franklin, through his successful experiment with the kite, discovered the true nature of electricity, tore the mask from the face of Jehovah, and freed the heavens of a hideous monster.

"The thunderbolt was no longer the manifestation of God's anger, nor the lightning of his wrath. The mind of man [and woman] was emancipated from the fear of God.

"It is difficult to realize the complete revolution this discovery made upon the human race, or how far it was responsible for the triumphs of the nineteenth century. With it Franklin's fame, already world-wide, was intensified into universal approbation.

"The only dissenting voice was that of the clergy. They feared with their whole being, and rightly, too, the consequences of his achievement -- the lightning rod. They roundly termed it the heretical rod and refused to desecrate their churches with it, although as a consequence God particularly singled them out for destruction. Prayer, supplication and the ringing of bells were the methods they employed to forestall the lightning or to calm the rising flood.

"The clergy of that day, not unlike some to-day, could not reconcile their calling with the impious work of an arch infidel. There has always been hesitancy in accepting the achievements of the leaders and pioneers of progress, and always because it was in conflict with God's word."

"History is but a continuous narrative of the steps of progress, each one of which the Church has bitterly contested.

"Franklin's Heretical Rod has been a mighty instrument for the liberation and progress of man [and woman]. It has released us from the terror of the Unknown, and the debt the world owes this infidel is greater than it can pay."

From Positive Atheism