20
by papajim2jordan
Actually, lives are not lost in vain, but rather lived in vain. What is worth fighting for? Against?
When gods were many, you and I were free to pick and choose from a staggering array. I had my favorite players and you could root for your choices as well. All was calm (enough).
When gods became singular, you became a blasphemer. My magic book commands me to rid the world of your kind. And yours of mine.
Religion gives each of us an unchallengeable excuse to behave badly. Daddy said I could.
Many stories in books and movies are set in societies where both ancient and modern, even futuristic technologies co-exist. On the surface it seems impossibly strange, but we've always lived in that world.
Carl Sagan once noted that we are acquiring so much power as to become a danger to ourselves and to the Earth. We need that power to fix both what we've fucked-up and what the universe has and will throw at us. Our track record does not inspire.
The separation of Church and State is the separation of ignorance from power.
No phasers for depression era flop house drunks.
No congressional seats for minds deranged by eternity.
This isn't going well, is it?