The Way Religion Fits Into Western Society Hasn’t Changed Too Much

Here’s a glass-is-half-full kind of atheist whose attitude should be admired.  Look at how close we are to complete agreement!

I’m reminded of a guided tour I once had at the J. Paul Getty collection of  antiquities.  I asked the guy, “Are you trying to tell me that the ancient Greeks who developed geometry, democracy, ethics, metaphysics, and so many disciplines within the arena of science believed that the sun was pulled across the sky by some fellow driving a chariot?”

He smiled, “Well, their society was surprisingly like ours.  True, Socrates, Euclid and the others didn’t believe that stuff, but the people growing grapes 200 miles outside of Athens never thought to question it.  Today, if you’re a molecular biologist or an astrophysicist, you’re extremely unlikely to believe that an omniscient being is looking down on you and guiding your life.  But what about the people growing corn in Iowa?”