We hesitated to nominate a specific individual for the very first "Certified Crazy" award because we would hate to cause strife or dissent on a small scale. Rest assured that the "Certified Crazy" awards will evaluate your personal case soon. But our big winner tonight might just be the best of batty, the dean of deranged, the loopiest of lunacies, the mother of mental - organized religion!
The awards are not a contest per se because, as far as crazy goes, everyone's a winner. Instead, as with every "Certified Crazy" award, a nominee's portfolio is sent to a jury who then evaluates whether the candidate brings enough loose screws to deserve a place in the "Certified Crazy" Hall of Fame.
In the case of tonight's nominee - organized religion – the jury summarized its thoughts and verdict as follows:
The case for religious insanity: The principle weakness of religious beliefs is the lack of any evidence for a supernatural actor in human affairs. Clever theists argue that one cannot disprove the existence of God, and that's true. The noted scientist Richard Dawkins argues that if one happens to believe in a god called the Orbiting Celestial Teapot, you would be hard pressed indeed to prove it does not exist. But it wouldn't make the Orbiting Celestial Teapot god, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster god, or any other god for that matter, any more real. Cannot explain the diversity of life on the planet? No problem, God created plants, animals, and humans just like that! Worried where your soul goes after you die? No problem, God created just the place for it called eternity. For centuries, religion has exploited human ignorance to offer a soothing ready-made but illusory explanation called God.
The case against religious insanity: Everything has an origin and therefore a creator. Creating the world requires great power, and we call this power "God". From here, accounts from various religions differ. Some organized religions, for instance, summon an "interventionist" God interested in human affairs and who is susceptible to be influenced by prayer or tribute. Other religions invoke a more disinterested force or energy that permeates everything and either acts benevolently or can be harnessed to influence their lives and those of others. A few holy books state the existence of God. Most people believe in God in one form or another, and billions of people can't be insane.
Verdict: There is neither evidence for God nor any need to invoke God to understand how the world works. Science has replaced most religious accounts of the world with more sensible evidence-based theories and facts. There is simply no basis to think that God hides in the ever-receding boundaries that science does not yet explain. This jury, as would any rigorous court of law, rejects the notion that God exists based simply on lack of evidence alone. Religious beliefs are therefore deemed by this jury as an especially outrageous form of insanity.
So all you religious folks, you know who you are, you've been Certified Crazy!
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