My TEDx Talk: Reality Reconciles Science and Religion

[muriel_volestrangler]

44. Hard to know, but less reverence for religion and preachers would be part of it, I think

The privileged position of religion needs to disappear. People need to see it as opinion without evidence, rather than something that 'must be respected'. It'd help if politicians gave up saying "God Bless America" and going to prayer breakfasts and such like, because that gives the impression that religion should matter. The attempts to stop teachers etc. praying in public are good, but a responsible politicians would realise that they become part of the problem by doing the public evangelising instead.

If religion were seen as on a par with, say, astrology, then the nonsense of "teach the controversy" would disappear, and people would apply normal standards of evidence to religious claims - which would mean they'd stop insisting that it must be the Word of God because it says it's the Word of God, and it's the Word of God so it must be right.