Freedom from Religion

I call this image "Modern Business Ethics".  I guess its a cartoon more than a drawing.  One building burns but a barefoot man seems ready to jump from a building that is not burning.

He is wearing a tie but that may not indicate that he is a business man.  He may be a singer or an artist. The costume is not the person and the map is not the territory. Sometimes the map doesn't even resemble the territory and sometimes the costume does not even resemble the person.

We don't know from the image just how high up he is.  For all we know, he might be on a small staircase, or on the low pedestal of a statue.  Things are not what they seem.

We don't know if the fire was an accident, or whether it was set on purpose.  Or perhaps I've painted a burning building because it was easier in my cartoon to use fire rather than showing a controlled demolition.  Who knows? Its art.  I like art that poses questions rather than giving answers.  If enough people ask the right questions, we will know everything we need to know.

They say that we have freedom of religion.  I don’t agree.  You may have freedom to choose a church, but if your church or beliefs are outside of the Judeo Christian model and you are open about it, people treat you badly.  Although people are tolerant on the surface, they will treat you differently when you are not there. 
They say that we have freedom of religion but what I’d rather see is freedom from religion.  The laws of a nation should, if the nation has a rational footing, allow people to not only choose between religions, but also the option to choose no religion, or to choose one that is not currently popular.  Why is it that in this country which holds its freedoms in such high esteem, members of pagan faiths are treated as if they are crazy and marginalized? Why are atheists reviled and agnostics kept at arms length? 
Even as our lives are ample evidence of the interference of some higher power, and even as it is clear that the response and understanding of a higher power is a very unique and personal experience, our society marginalizes anyone whose interpretation varies significantly from “God the father in heaven who will punish you if you are bad and reward you for worshipping and believing in him:. If you percieve the mystery as a goddess, a pantheon, a god even marginally different from the centrist one, you are never really a part of society.  In essence you are a heathen, one who lives outside the fold,. 
Who is your shepherd?  What gods do you see when the moon is full.  When you hear the whispers of the mysteries, what do you see or hear?  Is it science?  Is it Mathematics?  Is it Art?  Is it Politics?
Because of the focus on a single theology (my understanding says that Jews, Christians, Muslims and Mormons, amoung others all essentially subscribe to the same faith) and our refusal to recognize different responses to the mysteries, we have become blinded to the powers and intentions behind reality.  And being blinded to them means we cannot distinguish between them. 
Blake saw heaven in a wildflower and eternity in an hour.  Saint Francis saw God in acts of charity and kindness to all creatures.  The Bacchae saw miracles in drunkenness and excess. Are any of them correct in their observations or were they misled?
If you never confront evil, you can never defeat evil
If you hide the truth behind denials you have not erased the truth but only hidden it.
If you look for your gods not in books, but in the world, you will find evidence as compelling for the one idea as for the next.  If you look into your reality for evidence of gods, you have already taken a step towards misguiding yourself. 
If you hide the truth behind denials, it does not erase the truth. 
When you talk to most searchers, and ask them what they are looking for, they will preface their answer with “Well I hope to find that…”
Does this mind set, with its hoped for outcome, predispose the searcher to look only at evidence which reinforces the hope, or does the focus of the hope enable the searcher to better see what is there before them
What one person sees, another may see differently.  If I had your eyes, and you mine, would we see the same colors that we see now?  How do I know that what I see as red with my eyes isn’t what you see as blue with yours?  The shape, color and health of our eyes must, in some way, effect what we see.  What would it mean if what you see as blue is what I see as red, and yet we both call the color yellow?  How would we know?
Creatures who were created equal, change the minute they start gestating.  Each fetus has already developed some differentiation from its equals.  This can be effected by the quality of the sperm, by the quality of the ovum, by the health of the womb and the mother and her place in the world.  Once outside the womb, that equality is further erased so that by the tine we are adults, we are each radically different from our fellows.
We all enjoy a point of equality.  When the sperm enters the ovum, we have the same number of cells and a nearly identical physical identity. Beyond that point of conception we all differentiate and by the time leave the womb, we have already become unique, a combination of the genes and the histories of our parents and our families. 
As adults, some people choose to honor that moment of equality, but most, even the most liberally minded, make judgements about the quality of a person based on a template passed on by parents and culture.
Acculturation creates inequalities and politics fosters them.
All struggle is a response to inequality.
All struggle is a response to equality.
The bird of paradise entices a mate with a ritualized dance.  If his dance is found wanting by his intended mate, she flies away.  He tries again with another. 
Differentiation in these communities is determined by who mates with whom.
When humans court, men do a dance for the women, and the women do a dance for the men.  Although both genders partake in the rituals of courting, in the end the decision still lies with the female – whether to mate and bear children or to go in different directions. 
Recreational sex is nothing more than practice for procreation.  When the body decides its had enough practice, there is fertilization.  This is something that happens inside the body, beyond the realm of courting or choice. 
Some creatures mate for life.  Others only for a season or a second.  Some creatures eat their young, some creatures eat their mates.
Does a male black widow understand that he is to be sacrificed once he has mated?
When she devours his body, does she also incorporate his thoughts with her own?
Do male black widows ever survive the mating?  If they did, would they live long, or even live to mate again?  Is the death of the male black widow an inevitability?