Something peculiar is happening throughout the western world. As the rate of people who identify with known religions declines, and as the rate of people who identify as non-religious increases, religious warfare — and the use of dogmatic arguments in all aspects of our life — seems to be on the rise.
Qanon.
Wokism.
Anti-racism.
Boogaloo.
You haven’t posted the right image on your twitter bio? Blasphemer!
You claimed that there are only two sexes and they might differ in certain characteristics? Heretic!
Your hiring policy does not advantage a certain group of people over others? Kafir!
You didn’t wear a double-mask outdoors during the pandemic? Infidel!
You DID wear a mask during the pandemic? Traitor!
It seems like the only reason we think that religiosity is on the decline is that we haven’t classified any of the new cults as religions yet. But.. what else could they possibly be?
To an ardent “non” like yours truly, it becomes impossible not to notice that institutionalized scientism — which was supposed to lead to the abolition of dogmatic beliefs — has instead created a vacuum into which new dogmatic beliefs have crept.
Is it futile to expect that the human race may one day drop the yoke of unsubstantiated assertions and dogmatic beliefs and begin to think rationally in light of available evidence? Probably yes.
Can we minimize the level and effect of this yoke? Possibly.
Is scientism the way to get there? I would say likely not (as evidenced by the bloodiest 150 years in human history, and by the nonsensical dogmas that are now unleashed upon the world from the loudest science-endorsed movements in the west).
It seems that something else is required. A belief system that fills the god-shaped hole in the human heart with something other than bovine excrement.
Care to join me on the journey to discover what it might be?
