Think

    Free thought is in short supply in the world I see, whether by a person’s own choosing or culturally spawned by ignorance. People will so quickly question anything, why is it that certain things are held above this scrutiny? How is it a person can just omit certain ideals from skepticism? We are all guilty, at one point or another we have rejected an idea just off of a personal preference. In fact when an idea contradicts or conflicts with an idea that we hold, we feel threatened as though ideas were capable of physically hurting us. Ideas that are thought out and house nothing but positive intent and truth will be tossed aside casually as though they had no baring at all.
    The duality of man, constantly questioning, yet unable to let go of what we feel emotionally attached to, imprisons us all. Religious beliefs seem to be at the forefront of this denial. Something about the stigma of god keeps people from using their reasoning and logic. The idea of talking to the dead through a medium is usually met with laughter, if not a healthy dose of skepticism, yet when you say two-thousand years ago a man came back from the dead, it’s taken as truth with out much, if any, hesitation.
    Children are malleable and easily moved to think as their parents do, whether by genetic predisposition or psychological need to fit in with the people around you, in a time when critical thinking has not fully developed, we are pressured and taught things we have no defense against. We don’t say the a child is republican or libertarian, because they don’t hold the resources to make such decisions. Why then, do we think that a child has the world worth of knowledge to make a decision about the creation of the entire universe?
    We have adults, blind to their own arrogance, knowing things without doubt and no evidence to back it up. Men and women mindlessly repeat verses and arguments with out caring about their validity. When these people are questioned, they become defensive, as though they themselves not their ideas were under attack, and question any and all points made. All the while the questioner becomes increasingly aggravated wondering why none of the same skepticism is applied to any statement made by the individual.
    It is unfair and inaccurate to label all religious people this way, as atheist agnostics, and skeptics can be just as stubborn and arrogant about their beliefs, and many religious people take very rational views. The ability to ask why is without a doubt the human’s greatest tool. As far as we know, humans are the only species capable of consciousness, of thought. Why would anyone be so careless with this great gift, even if it is god given? It is our right to question everything and give a proper verifiable explanation.