And did somebody say “launch”? That brings to mind, also very strongly, a revival-era short story called “A Celestial Omnibus”, and that was about a vehicle that did indeed leave from a humble little old station displaying a very earthy-country road sign “to heaven”. But, of course this random-thought free-association with such American-Gothic style “old family religion” symbols is so totally preposterous that any self-respecting half-intellectual perhaps shouldn’t even think of it, let alone write it down in the public view in somebody’s blog.

But since space programs around the world in general seem to have been lagging of late, some Grandma Moses audacity might soon be in order (or could be). Sachiko’s candor about “temper” is an intriguing bit of unexpected inspiration to me, in this case. Though I make little sense of my reaction to it as yet, I voluntarily jump quite rashly (yet gratefully) upon the urge to type a blurb, perhaps as though I would afterall make a last-minute run for that bus…

Originally Posted By Aspasia
I am so happy to hear this! Isn’t it amazing that these busses will be in countries that actually have an official state religion…yet not in America where we claim to separate Church and State.

Hi Aspasia,

Actually, as my article mentions they are running in Washington DC, although nowhere else in the US as far as I know. However, down here in Australia they aren’t running anywhere – shame on us!

Regarding Akacra’s comments (welcome back!), I suspect the end of religion is inevitable, but it’s going to be a very long and very hard road, and it won’t happen at all if we sit back and do nothing.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/
It is available on DVD, so I am sure netflix has it, but it is also available on E-Bay

It is set in 2500 AD as opposed to my previous statement of 2075, but the idea is still relevant.

@Akacra: I’ve never heard of the film you named. I’m guess it was an indie film, is it available on DVD?

Unfortunately, religion is so much of a social-community- networking-monetary-hegemonic & tradition based issue that advertising will have very little effect.

Religion is a little like drug addiction for new members of a church. Generally these people are actively searching for religion to mask/give release/meaning to their hardships while doing so in a safe group environment. They tend to group together, giving each other validation for their actions, and they have instant social networking “ins” if they go to another area where their church is active.

Unlike drug addiction, though, there are the issues of familial teaching, patriarchal & heirarchical structures and the moral clarity in issues that when followed may actually may help in most instances keep a society from utter chaos. Then there is the issue of the legal system, which is highly derived from the Judeo-Christian-Muslim (King David, Hummarabi, Jesus’s teachings, Mohammed’s Teachings, King Charlemagne’s) traditions.

Of course, if we could just start over, and focus on every aspect of Western society that happened after the signing of the Magna Carta as a basis for our social, cultural, ethical and intellectual development (as we do in our economic evolution, beginning with Adam Smith, Thomas Hobbes and such) then we could retain the original components that help our societies, without the threat of afterlife repraisal and judgement from something that doesn’t exist.

However, the addiction to religion, like that of the addiction to drugs, is something that: high taxes, threat of imprisonment, ridicule from society, removal from society, torture, poverty, execution, war, social strife, economic advantage, academic training, logical explaination and other methods of argument; have already failed to eradicate religion from societies worldwide.

The good news is that smaller proportions of the world population are choosing to be part of a religion. The bad news it is such a slow decline that it will take another 1500 years at the current rate for it to fall to 1% of the population. 5.7 of 6.5 Billion people believe in a religious aspect of humanity’s existence to one level or another. 4.6 Billion believe in the teachings of the Judeo-Christian-Muslim faiths to some degree or another.

Overall though, when you think that these religions started out as small as the Atheist movement 5,000, 2000 and 1400 years ago, the possibility exists of having success. The only problem is, that if the atheist movement becomes evangelical in nature, does atheism become just another social movement in the progression of other “isms” that have struck out and fallen flat over the 19th and 20th centuries?

My biggest hope is that the world doesn’t follow the track the movie “Idiocracy” depicts America to be in 2075. Atheism can be a tool to avoid this, so I wish great success upon this movement.

- Akacra