Letters to the Editor
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Secret hope
Barbara King's contention that religiosity in scientists is OK is a nice palliative bridge for disparate groups to connect with each other. However, it is not likely to gain any acceptance from Christian fundamentalists who are driven by ideas of right and wrong, one of them being that it is absolutely necessary to accept Jesus Christ as one's savior in order to go to heaven. No one else can go whether they have ever heard of Jesus or not! Such harsh ideas permeate many religious groups. Could it be that religion is more an exclusionary device than a spiritual search?
And why are there so many of us who find it completely irrational to entertain notions that God sits on a throne meeting out rewards and punishments. The fact that there are so many differing religions is not proof that we are spiritual but is more likely an offshoot of the societal necessity for establishing rules of conduct for its members and of generating ways of controlling behavior by establishing an "in" group and an "out" group. This is not to say that we are not all struck from time to time with our short life span and its meaning. On the other hand, many are driven to
fight the notion that we will be annihilated by death and seek possible loop holes for this bewildering fact, hence the construct of a spiritual afterlife! Scientists and others, including myself, cringe at disintegration and secretly hope that this is not simply our brief time upon the stage, signifying nothing.