The problem with the religious solution [for mysteries such as
consciousness and moral judgments] was stated by Mencken when he wrote,
"Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not
worth knowing." For anyone with a persistent intellectual curiosity,
religious explanations are not worth knowing because they pile equally
baffling enigmas on top of the original ones. What gave God a mind, free
will, knowledge, certainty about right and wrong? How does he infuse them
into a universe that seems to run just fine according to physical laws?
How does he get ghostly souls to interact with hard matter? And most
perplexing of all, if the world unfolds according to a wise and merciful
plan, why does it contain so much suffering? As the Yiddish expression
says, If God lived on earth, people would break his window.

--
Enkidu AA#2165
http://www.musings.leaddogs.org/
EAC Chaplain and ordained minister,
ULC, Modesto, CA

PGP ID: 0xC4CE8CF0

"The Bible has been interpreted to justify such evil practices as, for
example, slavery, the slaughter of prisoners of war, the sadistic murders
of women believed to be witches, capital punishment for hundreds of
offenses, polygamy, and cruelty to animals. It has been used to encourage
belief in the grossest superstition and to discourage the free teaching
of scientific truths. We must never forget that both good and evil flow
from the Bible. It is therefore not above criticism."
-Steve Allen