The Intellectual Restraints of Religion and the Migration Away from Delusion

Ever since organised religions have emerged in human society, they have limited scientific discovery and human advancement to a considerable degree.

At around 0AD, the European populace had reached its peak of scientific discovery and advancement that it would achieve for many hundreds of years. After the Roman era, the foundations were laid for many societies that could begin to discover great and life changing things. However, with the creation of the major modern religious faiths that we know so well today came a gigantic, impenetrable barrier that would scar human development forever.

Although in a prime position to develop and learn much more about the world around them, our 2,000 year old ancestors knew astonishingly little when compared with people today. Religions were formed to fill in these huge gaps in people's collective knowledge and due to the fact that there was no alternative at the time, religions were almost entirely adopted worldwide.

For hundreds of years this had the effect of steering people away from reality and towards fantasy. Religion offered answers when it was first born and science did not, but as science feebly developed, hampered immensely by the iron ceiling of religion, answers were found. People were used to religion and it was accepted 'fact'. Anyone who questioned or opposed it was condemned to hell and in many cases, killed.

It is unacceptable that something so detrimental to human advancement is still widely accepted in today's world. Look at how much we have achieved since the shackles of religion began to loosen. We know so much more about the universe we live in now than we did two millennia ago, and yet the majority of us choose to listen to the logic of books written by unknown authors, many years ago when we knew so astonishingly little.

Is it not obvious that science is the way forwards, and that religion is simply a defunct void from which no development emerges? We require science to propagate.

I appreciate the fact that religion is much more than a source of 'knowledge' for many people and is a way of life, but we must do as we humans have been doing ever since our emergence: develop and change. Let us use this knowledge we possess now to propagate and carve an enlightened path into the future. Turn away from these fallacies that still dominate the world over and reject them for the nonsense that they clearly are.

There is some hope, though. Since the late 19th century people have begun to reject religion and turn their attention to science. I sincerely hope that this growing trend continues and that we can look back at religion in a few decades' time as a restriction on our own success as a species.

I hope we move on and leave religion behind. I hope we change our culture so that it is centred upon knowledge and propagation, rather than myth. But above all I hope that this article has influenced your own opinion, and that after reading this you do some serious thinking about your own beliefs. Do they make sense? Are they really relevant in a modern, advanced society? Well, the choice is yours, but I would rather back teams of the world's most intelligent people working on cutting edge technology than a two thousand year old organisation formed when the geocentric model was widely accepted as fact.

Old = Bad?

It seems that anything that is not current and up to date is viewed as somehow inferior to the latest version of whatever the thing is. The consumer culture is probably responsible for this, and while being a good thing for our economy, it's a bad state of mind for the public to be in.

Cars are a fine example of this. Modern, current range cars are deemed superior to older ones simply due to their age, when in reality, there are plenty of terrible cars made today (there always have been, actually) and there are still plenty of good, old cars that far superior to some current range ones.

The same goes for clothes. I can see the attraction in fitting in with the crowd, being inconspicuous - but what if it means sticking with the current dress sense, which could make you look ridiculous? I just can't see the point in this. Stick with a fashion that you enjoy and that suits your purposes - i.e keeping you warm and keeping certain areas of you private.

I'd much rather stick to a design that I'm sure works rather than change everything I own every month in order to blend in. I'll drive a good car, regardless of its age and I'll wear clothes I like to wear, regardless of whether they are up to date or not.

Too many people just drift along with everybody else and lack the courage just to be themselves. This isn't a good thing at all. If people stuck to what they enjoyed and what they were good at, mankind may have achieved a lot more than it currently has done.

We need more pioneers, not sheep.

Certainly, in the technological spectrum, older equipment is usually inferior in its functions and practicality to newer equipment. Due to the fact that we live in the age of technology, this rule is also applied to everything. Cars, clothes, fashions - even people, to an extent.

Things used to be made to last, not to be replaced with a newer technology or newer style every month. Functionality has been replaced by style, and I can't see this changing any time soon.

This begs the question: do we still think about what we're doing and buying? I'd like to be able to say yes, but when everybody seems to automatically buy the latest thing, simply because it is new, I don't think I can.

I pride myself in the fact that my mobile phone is 4 years old, and has never been replaced since. This is for the simple reason that it still works as well as it did the day I bought it. The camera doesn't matter, because it's a phone - I have a proper camera for taking pictures.

All that matters about my phone is that it is usable for its basic function - to take and receive calls and text messages. I probably won't be replacing it any time soon, and I urge you to adopt the same attitude - after all, what happened to the common sense of replacing something when it broke?

All the shit that they're putting on phones now you simply don't need, and there is no point in paying £200 for a phone when you already have one, even if it does mean you get the latest 'app' or phone technology that you'd never actually need.

It's a waste of money.

Winter Driving

You'd think that after having around 90 previous years of snow and cars in this country, people would know how to drive when it gets a bit chilly. Yet, strangely - they don't.

To give them credit, some people do prepare their cars for winter and fit winter tyres and top up oil levels etc. but the vast majority of us do nothing. Is it any wonder such chaos is caused when the roads are covered with snow and ice?

I think this is partly down to the attitude that most people have towards cars. Motoring used to be a thing of pleasure; a thing that only people who enjoyed driving would take part in. But ever since cars became the #1 method of transport in the known world, the joy has diminished and people simply see them as very small trains.

If people on the whole were more interested in driving and their own cars, I think the problem of winter driving would not be nearly as severe as it is now. Most people are hopeless drivers in the snow, who get stuck and require rescuing.

If only they had prepared their cars for the winter and knew how to drive in the snow, they would be much better off as a result.

You don't even need a 4x4 to drive safely on a snowy road. Experience and knowledge is the key. It's incredibly frustrating that the same thing happens every year: complete hopelessness in the face of extreme weather. It's a wonder that the country still runs itself when it snows.

It also makes no sense whatsoever that there is nothing in the driving test that prepares people for a time of the year that will happen - every year - when driving conditions become very challenging.

So here's what I propose: on every driving test and in one lesson, there will be a section involving snow/ice road driving. Little test roads should be built that can be artificially frozen and snowed on. It makes total sense.

As a result, if it was a section of the driving test, the whole country would be much safer in winter and hopefully people would be aware of the risks of winter driving. They might even prepare every winter for these conditions.

It's a mystery that such an obvious solution hasn't been implemented yet.