[i]t Is Difficult To Imagine A Set

Hope Is Easy; Knowledge Is Hard. Science Is The One Domain In Which We Human Beings Make A Truly Heroic Effort To Counter Our Innate Biases And Wishful Thinking. Science Is The One Endeavor In Which We Have Developed A Refined Methodology For Separating What A Person Hopes Is True From What He Has Good Reason To Believe.

[i]t Is Difficult To Imagine A Set Of Beliefs More Suggestive Of Mental Illness Than Those That Lie At The Heart Of Many Of Our Religious Traditions.

Indeed, Religion Allows People To Imagine That Their Concerns Are Moral When They Are Highly Immoral - That Is, When Pressing These Concerns Inflicts Unnecessary And Appalling Suffering On Innocent Human Beings. This Explains Why Christians Like Yourself Expend More "moral" Energy Opposing Abortion Than Fighting Genocide. It Explains Why You Are More Concerned About Human Embryos Than About The Lifesaving Promise Of Stem-cell Research. And It Explains Why You Can Preach Against Condom Use In Sub-saharan Africa While Millions Die From Aids There Each Year. (25)

The Habit Of Spending Nearly Every Waking Moment Lost In Thought Leaves Us At The Mercy Of Whatever Our Thoughts Happen To Be. Meditation Is A Way Of Breaking This Spell.

Morality And Values Depend On The Existence Of Conscious Minds - And Specifically On The Fact That Such Minds Can Experience Various Forms Of Well-being And Suffering In This Universe.