Posthuman Blues

"Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man."

--Thomas Jefferson

Quotes like these from our "founding fathers" are a dime a dozen, yet windbags like Jerry Falwell have helped build an industry committed to America's alleged "Christian roots." The notion that the United States is a fundamentally Christian nation is a blatant lie perpetuated by the intellectually impaired.

Yet the mythos of Falwell, Robertson, et al gathers momentum. It has apocalyptic appeal; it's irresistably simplistic. In a landscape propelled (and pummelled) by information, the quickest, easiest reality-tunnels become the most desirable. History becomes a subtextual ink-blot. Reason perishes to make way for reassurance.

Religion -- in all forms -- is humankind's deadly legacy, infinitely more frightening than all the chemical warfare stockpiles on the planet. Weapons inspectors scour musty Mid-East basements in search of missiles and anthrax while oblivion incubates in their skulls, unnoticed.

If we manage to leave our planetary womb, we cannot allow ourselves to take our debasing metaphysics with us. Perhaps vaguely anticipating a better (albeit unthinkably god-free) future, the Vatican actually has an assembly of priests devoted to "converting" possible extraterrestrials. Maybe the aliens will have a more robust sense of irony than I do and we'll be spared an "Independence Day"-style extermination.