A good teacher instills curiosity about facts in his students; a religion teacher too often demands rote memorization of manipulative catch phrases and passages from the Bible, Koran, Talmud, Book of Mormon, catechism, old revelations, traditions and worn out assumptions. The good teacher motivates students to ask why and why not; the God teacher demands unquestioning faith in what used to be believed by the faithful in darker ages. The one helps the next generation to spiral upwards to new knowledge; the other helps the next generation to repeat the mistakes of old. The one shows the way to human advancement; the other claims to already be the way, the truth and the life. So the one increases human knowledge and self-reliance, while the other continues the endless wandering in the desert of ignorant credulity and manipulable lack of confidence in self.

Today, as in the past, religion often holds kids back, brainwashes and deceives them. As recently as October 2002, Pope John Paul II told Catholic kids to babble an expanded and
“improved” version of the fifty-times-repetitive Rosary. It only takes about twenty minutes a day. Can you imagine any thinking person repeating the same prayer fifty times in twenty minutes? Please! It would be so much more productive to have these busy and naturally curious youngsters studying realities of math and science than babbling hypnogenic, repetitive, brainwashing messages of myths and mysteries. The brighter ones among the curious youngsters may well ask if this papal recommendation showed the aging pontiff’s senility more than divine inspiration.

Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (Rosary of the Virgin Mary) proclaimed to all the world that October 2002 to October 2003 was the Year of the Rosary. He wrote: “The Rosary … offers a familiar yet fruitful spiritual and educational
opportunity for … the new evangelization.” Later in the same letter, he wrote: “To pray the Rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ and his mother.”

The Rosary, with its hypnogenic repetitions has probably done more to bring Catholics to their knees both physically and mentally than perhaps any other religious practice after baptism. The following section is for those of you not familiar with the details of how millions of Catholics have said the Rosary for many decades.

HOW TO PRAY THE ROSARY

1. While holding the crucifix make the Sign of the Cross, and then recite the “Apostles’ Creed” (text below).
2. Recite the “Our Father” holding the first large bead.
3. On each of the three small beads recite a “Hail Mary” (text below) for an increase of faith, hope, and charity.
4. Recite the “Glory be to the Father” (text below) on the next large bead.
5. Recite the “Our Father” on the next large bead.
6. On each of the adjacent ten small beads (also referred to as a decade) recite a “Hail Mary.”
7. On the next large bead, recite the “Glory Be to the Father.”
8. Each of five decades is prayed in a similar manner by reciting the “Our Father,” ten “Hail Marys”, and the “Glory Be to the Father.”
9. When the fifth decade is completed, the Rosary is customarily concluded with the “Hail, Holy Queen.”

* * *

APOSTLES’ CREED—

I BELIEVE in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell; the third day he arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

* * *

HAIL MARY—

HAIL MARY, full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

* * *

OUR FATHER—

OUR FATHER, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

* * *

GLORY BE—

GLORY BE to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

* * *

HAIL HOLY QUEEN—

HAIL, HOLY QUEEN, Mother of Mercy! our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Oh clement, Oh loving, Oh sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, Oh Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

* * *

The above section tells you how you can pray the Rosary. If you want the Catholic Church’s detailed instructions as to how to perform exorcisms or cast out devils, you can find the directions in the 84 page Roman Ritual. This ritual was recently revised, so I am not making up the fact that the Church of Rome still believes in the existence of the Devil and that he can take possession of some human beings. There was quite an upsurge in calls for exorcisms after the popular film, The Exorcist, was so successful in theaters, another example of the influence of the crowd on individual belief systems.

It took me a long time to appreciate how my old conventional religion promoted my wandering in the desert of credulity. The following illustrates how modern religion continues, in a more subtle way, to prolong old beliefs. In early 2002 some local youths
were helping in neighborhood clean-ups while being treated to music and rap sessions along with the pop theology of the friendly Reverend Mr. Hill. After some of the youngsters’ questions of their reverend leader, it became clear that these impressionable
young people had learned that “there are no toilets in heaven, but, yes, there are dogs (any fire-hydrants?) in heaven, and God has a beard, maybe, maybe not!” (Rev. Hill wasn’t sure of this one!) I now recall that when I was a kid in grade school we asked the
nun the same question about dogs in heaven. She said, somewhat more correctly than Rev. Mr. hill, “If you want a dog in heaven, you will have your dog in heaven.” This dear, lovable nun, Sister Mary Phillip, was safe in saying that if, after we died, we still
wanted a dog, we could have it.

I do not want to argue with the Rev. Mr. hill about toilets, dogs, beards, or other anthropomorphisms in heaven. I now prefer to question the unquestioned implication that there is a heaven at all—though these children would not ordinarily think to question
that more basic assumption. I wish mentors of such youngsters could help them become generous and environmentally sensitive without implying the improbable for their open young minds.

Yet another example of the counter-productivity of religious teaching is the use of the fear of hell to keep Christians in line. When I was a child, our parish was Saint Michael’s. I remember vividly a very colorful statue of Saint Michael the archangel (as a handsome young man with wings) spearing the snake over a pit showing suffering souls in horrible flames. This statue of quite dubious taste had a prominent and impressive position in the
sanctuary as long as I can remember. It helped make any sermons on the pains of hell quite impressive to me in my grade school days.

As a naïve youngster I was no mental match for a big person with glorifying robes who spoke from on high with an authority representing God. Such a bigger-than-human-life figure deeply influenced me, and surely impeded my natural drive toward rationality. You can likely relate to similar early influences in your own youth. From your own personal experience, you can probably relate to the difficulty of overcoming these logic-free messages from those who were then accepted as fully trustworthy messengers of
truth. All of us believed before we were able to think. That’s one of the reasons it is so difficult to let reason reign supreme when emotions conflict with it. Be patient with self and tolerant of others while you keep trying to think ever more clearly.

I succeeded in healing my scars only after years of challenging battles and extensive study. I heartily encourage you not to shy away from the necessary fight for the mental freedom of logical consistency—of being true to your highest power, your logical intellect. What an exhilarating freedom! It is worth battling for.

During my personal battle for mental freedom, I was more fortunate than most. In 1965, I had a near-fatal auto crash. Being late for an appointment, I was in a hurry as I topped a hill on a familiar country road near Marmion. Since there was a steep head-on collision with a car coming up the middle of the road. Recall that at that time I was still a priest, though I was in the midst of my multi-year intellectual or spiritual struggle.

When I saw that car coming at me in my right-of-way, I was completely convinced that I was a dead man. I locked up the brakes, and yes, I prayed. But it was truly an agnostic’s prayer that went something like this: “God, help me; have mercy on my soul if I need it—if you are there!” Then I lost consciousness.

When I was waking up from that painless and peaceful state, I repeatedly experienced varied lights that many unscientific writers about near-death experiences have called supernatural. Several who heard the crash and saw the car thought it was a miracle I
survived; it wasn’t. I can explain it all naturally. Before the accident, I was in good physical shape and thirty-five years young. So I was able to stay in the car instead of crashing through the windshield. After the accident, I was fortunate enough to be near some very scientific and talented trauma specialists. They did a great job on my body! However, that wasn’t the best part of the good break I got from this terrible accident.
The best thing to come from this accident for me was the deepest recognition that I was really a sincere agnostic and that I was not a victim of the self-deception of wish fulfillment when I considered myself an agnostic. Realize that this incident happened
after I had already been debating my theological position within myself for well over a year. In that “moment of truth” when I was staring death squarely in the face, my prayer for God’s help and mercy was conditional: “…if you are there, if you exist.” At that
time I became certain that I honestly doubted whether or not there was any God. Consequently, finalizing my difficult decision to leave the priesthood and the Catholic Church immediately became far easier for me. I now had to do it to avoid hypocrisy,
to be true to myself.

I can sympathize deeply with any conscientious reader fightingto get free from childhood biases and prejudices. It is hard to get free from the engrained past. Family and ethnic customs are instilled before reason reigns. I hope such a book as this will help you be true to yourself without the need of such a serious accident as I had.

My development from agnosticism to atheism took place gradually and naturally over the next several years. As a philosophical agnostic who no longer had a blinding faith in God, it was easier for me to see the practical implications from “evil.” By “evil” I do not mean “sin” or “being bad” as moralists consider evil. Such things as prejudicial hatred, self-induced cancer from smoking, disastrous car crashes, poverty based on laziness, and heart disease based on personal neglect; these are not sins or evil; they are examples of irresponsibility or abuse of personal freedom.

Here I am referring to the “evil” of nature that man has no control of. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, and droughts with their disastrous effects on innocent and powerless sufferers. These remind me of the disaster that happens to the ant when a
person or animal walks on it and thoughtlessly crushes it. These powerful happenings are nature in the raw, as are the squeals of a rabbit caught in the hungry jaws of a predator fox.

Seeing this sort of evil in nature, I gradually came to the conclusion that there could be no loving, caring, almighty God, either as author or guide of such a system of suffering. If a God saw such evil or created or permitted it, he would be more sadistic than loving. What remains is nature, with all its power, brutality, and beauty—nature, this huge self-contained eco-system of universes into which all of us must fit.

Now it is a lot easier to follow where reason leads me, to responsibly follow my highest power without blinding prejudices and juvenile credulity. The personal peace that results from such a heightened ability to be true to my rational self is so good for me that I want it to be shared by everyone. You will see, if you observe nature closely, that even in the painful predator-prey world, those species that cooperate survive longer and live better than if they did not cooperate. It somehow does not seem natural for members of species homo sapiens to prey on one another.

This is precisely why I write this book. My hope and my goal is for lasting peace firmly based on the rational Golden Rule, which says: treat others as you would reasonably want and expect them to treat you if your roles were reversed. This is a fond hope, a very
tall order, I know. But it can happen, because the predator-prey relationship within a species seems unnatural and illogical. (We will see later how the consistent observance of The Golden Rule shows truly enlightened selfishness; it pays handsome dividends.)

(Excerpt from pp. 63 – 71 of Imagine No Superstition)

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