The purpose of these blogs is to start a conversation about the legitamacy of religious ideologies and the harm it brings to our society. The three great religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, demand that we ignore what we know about our universe and buy into a system of belief and ideologies.

I argue on the side of integrity, that we as humans are only capable of knowledge and understanding of things that we can observe, logically and rationally deduce within our ability to comprehend. Once we legitimize a practice or system of belief that is beyond our ability to comprehend, we set the stage for horrible abuses. History has proven that most wars, and human suffering has been caused by people fighting behind the banner of their particular religious ideologies.

I write these words from the perspective of a person who was raised in a strictly religious home in NYC. I attended religious schools from kindergarten through college. I studied chapter and verse, and for the first fifty years of my life I would identify myself as a religious person. During this period of my life I was never comfrotable or satisfied with religious life and knew deep down inside something was wrong.

The conditioning and sense of religious obligation that is instilled from infancy is difficult to reconcile and kept me trapped in a lifestyle and condition which compromised my integrity for the first fifty years of my life. Today freed from the yolk of an illogical religious practice, and subjugation to an oppresive  lifestyle, I finally feel I am living life on my terms.

The fallout from my decision is that my parents, who told me to repent no longer communicate with me. They called my amazing wife who supported my decision a whore. My Brother and Sister rarely speak with me either and for sake of embarrassment, will not have me around their families.

This reaction by my family to me is common within religious communities. The attitude of the old testament is to cut off and deride those who do not fulfill gods laws. Consequently there are many people who are living either a false life in fear, or a lonely existence now cut off from family and loved ones.

Through this blog lets start the discussion and help bring people like ourselves out of the shadows. The big reveal is that there are many more people in the western world who do not take religion seriously than those who do. It is my hope and prediction that one day the human species will see itself as one great entity, who will overcome the immaturity of religious belief and practice, and set its goals on using its collective intelligence to improve the quality of life for all its inhabitants.

 Big Brother Burt